| The Kaliningrad region wants to export electricity at the expense of Gazprom The acquaintance of Gazprom Chairman of the Board Alexey Miller and Kaliningrad Governor Vladimir Egorov, which took place the other day at the corporation’s central office, has already become surrounded by myths. And quite official. As Interfax was told by the press service of the Kaliningrad region administration, the parties agreed to sign a cooperation agreement.
“The agreement, which will be signed in the near future, will reflect many of the problems of gasification of a special region of Russia that were discussed at this meeting. Thus, the company’s management will undertake not to increase regional gas tariffs, at least until the end of the year,” the press service noted. “It was not difficult for us to promise not to raise gas prices until the end of the year,” a source at Gazprom ironically said, “especially since only the Federal Energy Commission has the right to regulate them.”
According to the Vremya Novostey newspaper, the meeting between Miller and Egorov took place, as they say, “from scratch.” It cannot even be called working, since no materials were prepared for it from either side. And the parties did not undertake any mutual obligations. Nevertheless, the press service of the regional administration informed the public about a number of agreements reached. Moreover, by a strange coincidence, all of them represent obligations of Gazprom. In particular, Mr. Miller allegedly promised to provide the necessary volume of gas to launch the first unit of the Kaliningrad CHPP-2. That is, we are talking about increasing the gas limit provided for the exclave by 2006 from 1.05 billion to 1.65 billion cubic meters. If you believe Mr. Egorov’s press service, the agreement will also include a section on the supply of electricity to the Kaliningrad region from the Kaunas Thermal Power Plant, which Gazprom bought this spring. And also that the concern will sell this electricity at prices not exceeding the cost of supplies from the Leningrad region.
According to the Vremya Novostei newspaper, Gazprom is wary of the obligations attributed to Miller. A source in the concern says that the campaign for the construction of CHPP-2 is nothing more than covering up the intentions of personal enrichment of certain circles with state interests. As is known, the construction of this power plant is always justified by ensuring the energy security of the Russian exclave region. And it is supposed to be built using budget money. However, taking into account promising supplies from the Kaunas Thermal Power Plant, owned by Gazprom, the region’s needs will be fully covered. It is obvious that electricity from CHPP-2 will be exported, presumably to Poland. At the same time, to implement this project, powerful lobbying pressure was organized on Gazprom to allocate additional gas at government prices. The profit of lobbyists is not difficult to calculate: the “development” of part of the funds that will be allocated for construction, as well as excess profits from the export of electricity received due to low prices for Gazprom gas. In addition, CHPP-2 will eventually be privatized according to the restructuring plan of RAO UES of Russia, and the gas limit for it will remain. Alexey GRIVACHS |
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