By 2020 East of Russia to produce 70-100 bln cubic meters of gas a year

8 bln cubic meters of gas a year were produced in the Eastern regions of Russia in 2006, in 2010 – more than 20 bln cubic meters, by 2020 – 70-100 bln cubic meters of gas a year will be produced there. Mr. Putin said in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk at the meeting on the issues of fuel and energy sector’s development of the Far East and Eastern Siberia, the press service of the Government told a correspondent of IA Regnum on March 20th.
Mr. Putin said that the domestic market is a priority for the gas of East Siberia and Far East. Gas should become a resource base for creation of high-quality productions, for the modernization of the energy sector and housing and community service, decrease of the ecologic risks, Mr. Putin said.
In 2010 the largest cities of Kamchatka – Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Elizovo – were turned to gas fuel. Today we were present at the launch of the 1st block of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk electric power plant-1 that turns  coal to gas. It is really very important for Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk if we speak about the ecologic impact on the city. We will further on gasification of other Far Eastern regions, Mr. Putin said.
The Prime Minister said that the problem of gas reaching its final consumer, citizens should be solved.
He also ordered the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Natural Resources together with other interested departments, Gazprom, regions of Russia to prepare suggestions on correction of the Eastern gas program. The Prime Minister said that “a transparent and long-term price policy is needed”: “The price for energy resources, natural gas shouldn’t break competitiveness of the region, cause extra burden for local budgets, business and citizens. We have already decided on gas price lowering for Kamchatka and also on subsidy from Federal budget of gas supplies via the pipeline Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok that will allow to reduce price for the final consumers. I wait for your suggestions on solving of the same problem here, in Sakhalin. The initially offered gas price for Sakhalin is unacceptable for the region”.
Mr. Putin also said: “we have many promising deposits in East Siberia, Far East, at the Far Eastern shelf. However, the companies that have obtained the licenses for them, don’t always fulfill their investment obligations: delay geological exploratory works and the start of industrial production. I ask the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Energy and Rosnedra to check how the conditions of the license agreements are met and report on the results of this audit to the Government”.
Also Mr. Putin said that optimal variants of the gas transport system development in the Eastern regions of the country should be analyzed and determined. He thinks that the connection of the gas transport routes with the existing ESPO should save a lot. The less expenditure for infrastructure creation is, the more accessible gas and other energy resources will be for the final consumer, Mr. Putin said.
We need to work hard on increasing of the LNG production volumes and respective export terminals for its shipment that will allow us to seriously diversify hydrocarbon sales markets. The tanker fleet construction should also solve this problem. Mr. Putin asked to report on the situation with the new shipyards that are being constructed in the Far East: “There are 2 of them, as we know: East-Raffles” (specializes in Sea oil producing platforms and large transport ships in partnership with the Singapore company) and “Star-DSME” (specializes in tankers and gas carriers in partnership with Daewoo Shipbuilding).  

http://www.rosinvest.com/news/795400/
Translated by Galiya Davletgareeva