Gazprom’s natural gas reserve in Belarus’ underground storage facilities by autumn

OAO Gazprom plans to create an operational reserve of 1.035 billion m3 of natural gas in Belarus before the cold season begins, BelTA learned from the Russian company’s press center after a conference was held in Brest to discuss preparations for the 2014-2015 autumn-winter period and the expansion of natural gas usage.

As much as 71.13 billion m3 of natural gas will be stored in underground storage facilities in Russia.

It was noted during the conference that the preparation of gas transport installations for operating during the new autumn-winter season was proceeding in strict compliance with the schedule. In particular, over half of the intended work for the pig-assisted inspection and repairs of cross-country gas pipelines has been completed. As a result, the technical reliability of gas transport systems will increase while the number of malfunctions in cross-country gas pipelines will be reduced consistently, Gazprom’s press center said. In 2012 Gazprom registered 0.1 malfunctions per 1,000km. In 2013 the number was halved to 0.05 malfunctions. In H1 2014 the figure was 0.01.

The session was chaired by Deputy Chairman of the Board of OAO Gazprom Vitaly Markelov. Members of the Board, heads of relevant divisions and daughter enterprises took part in the session.

The Russian gas giant OAO Gazprom owns 100% of the shares of the gas pipeline operator OAO Gazprom Transgaz Belarus. Among other installations OAO Gazprom Transgaz Belarus operates three underground gas storage facilities: Osipovichskoye and Pribugskoye, which use water-bearing structures, and Mozyrskoye, which uses rock salt deposits. The cross-country pipelines in Belarus are used to transport Russian natural gas to Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast, to Lithuania, Ukraine, and Poland.