Ticket to the pipe

Gazprom offered to pay independents for the development of the transport system

Gazprom noted the government's decision to liberalize the gas market unexpectedly. The concern's board approved the concept and regulations for the participation of independent gas producers in the expansion, reconstruction and modernization of the company's gas transportation system. The documents should allow Gazprom to receive loading guarantees from third-party producing companies and even make money on the White House’s demand to more actively develop the resources of independent gas producers. The question of how this order will work remains unanswered. The actual supply of gas from independent producers to the market is now half as much as their official production. They either sell the rest to Gazprom or supply it to nearby consumers, bypassing the unified gas transportation system.

As the head of the Ministry of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko said yesterday at a government meeting, the share of independent producers in supplies to industrial consumers is now about 29-35%, by 2010 it will increase to 45-50%, and by 2015 it will be more than that of Gazprom " According to the gas monopolist, according to the 2006 balance sheet, independent producers (including traders) can transport only 46 billion cubic meters of gas to end consumers. That is, a little more than 10% of the sales market. Gazprom simply buys a significant part of the gas at the entrance to the system - 6 billion cubic meters from LUKOIL, 3.6 billion from Rosneft, at least 5 billion cubic meters from NOVATEK.

The regulations adopted yesterday do not require additional documents, Gazprom reported, and can begin to be applied even from tomorrow. The algorithm of actions should be like this. The producer submits an application to connect a new field to the Gazprom system; if it is necessary to build new capacities (and this is inevitable in the next few years), the concern offers the sufferer to implement an investment project to expand the system at a specific site. After receiving written consent, pre-investment studies are carried out. If the project is economically beneficial for both parties, an agreement is signed. Either Gazprom builds the pipeline with its own money, and the gas supplier undertakes to transport gas through this section for the entire life of the pipeline at tariffs (costs plus investment component). Or he takes out a construction loan from an independent manufacturer, but the contract is still concluded on a “transport or pay” basis. The constructed areas are registered as the property of Gazprom.

“This is a step forward,” NOVATEK told Vremya Novostey. “The document may allow us to develop new fields and increase production.” Other companies refrained from making official comments yesterday. The interlocutor in one of them considers the regulation a profanation of access in the absence of disclosure of data on the availability of free capacity. And a representative of another company believes that nothing worse will come from him, although a fundamental breakthrough is not yet visible.

Alexey GRIVACHS