Russia’s independent oil and gas producers want to be granted access to pipeline mains, including to the Power of Siberia natural gas pipeline, Ivan Menshikov, the director general of Rosneftegaz (RNG) oil and gas company, said.
“First of all, we need support from the state, construction of transport infrastructure, tax privileges we enjoy in Eastern Siberia as oil producers, and independent gas and oil producing companies access to the system of trunk pipelines. First of all, to the Power of Siberia”, he said.
In his words, oil and gas production is loss making if there is no access to trunk pipelines. Apart from that, he said, independent suppliers also want to operate on the domestic market along with the gas giant Gazprom.
Russia’s independent gas and oil producers are looking at construction of their own pipeline system running to the Sea of Okhotsk.
“I am speaking about a project that has been discussed for a long time which is linked with pipeline to Ayan (a port in the Russia’s Far Eastern Khabarovsk Territory) in the Sea of Okhotsk. The project provides for the establishment of a cluster of serious LNG, ethanol and carbamide plants. So far, the project is at the stage of discussion but it is obvious that reserves of at least one trillion cubic meters of gas are needed to ensure viability of the project. As of today, we have about 800 billion cubic meters. The result is achievable, but in a long-term perspective”, he said.
According to Menshikov, the idea is promising despite obvious obstacles.
“Even with Gazprom being well-disposed towards us, Power of Siberia will not be able to pump that much in a limited time. In such a case, they will have no room for their own gas”, he noted. (TASS/Business World Magazine)