Alexander Ananenkov, deputy chairman of Gazprom’s management committee
Photo: Alexey Kudenko
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Gazprom Closes China for Rosneft, TNK-BP
Russia’s gas monopoly, Gazprom, has agreed with Daltransgaz to acquire the 350km gas pipeline, running from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Khabarovsk. Gazprom needs it to lay an eastern route to China by bringing together three branches. The gas for the future pipeline will be secured by Sakhalin-3 project, where Rosneft holds the license for one of its blocks, but will hardly be able to export the gas in line with intention. Another party affected is TNK-BP. Its Kovykta field is apparently out of Gazprom’s plans for the following ten years.
Gazprom intends to become an owner of gas transport system from Sakhalin to Vladivostok with the option to extend it up to Korea, Alexander Ananenkov, deputy chairman of Gazprom’s management committee announced yesterday.
Ananenkov said, from this route, only one gas pipeline, from Sakhalin to Komsomolsk-on-Amur, is operating now. The facilities are owned by Rosneft subsidiary, require thorough upgrade and could be bought out by Gazprom. The continuation is the route from Komsomolsk to Khabarovsk. Daltransgaz will construct the branch this year, and its possible acquisition by Gazprom has been agreed on already.
The branch from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok doesn’t exist even as a project now.
Together, the above three pipelines will form the so-called eastern route to China. It will be filled by gas produced under the Sakhalin-3 project. The project has four blocks overall, Rosneft holds the license for Veininsky block (49 percent; CINOPEÑ – 25 percent). The remaining three blocks will be auctioned in the near term.
Rosneft has apparently hoped to ship Sakhalin gas to the Asian and Pacific Region itself, but its hopes will hardly materialize. “Rosneft is an oil company and should be engaged more in the oil than in the gas,” Ananenkov made clear yesterday.
Apart from Rosneft, another party affected is TNK-BP, as the development of its Kovykta field has been shelved for a decade. Gazprom is ready to start selling Kovykta gas “after 2015 at best,” Ananenkov emphasized.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 14, 2006
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