Gazprom Moves Ahead on Massive Eastern Russian Site

 Gazprom says it is moving ahead with a challenging exploration site in the far east of the Russian Federation.

The location is in Yakutia, or the Republic of Sakha, in the federation's far north-east. The semi-state Gazprom has invested RUB5.1 billion (€128 million) in the region in the past five years, and RUB 4.2 billion (€105m) this year to date.

In a statement, the gas giant said the project's scale was "unprecedented," featuring extremely harsh geographic conditions, and calling for advanced engineering.

On October 30 Gazprom made the final investment decision on pre-development of the Chayandinskoye field. This is vital to the Yakutia gas production centre. Go-ahead was also given for construction of the Yakutia-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas trunkline, as well as gas processing facilities in Belogorsk.

The gas pipeline route, some 3,000 kilometres long will pass through swampy, mountainous and seismically hazardous areas, the company says. It should be onstream by late 2017.

The Eastern Programme, launched about five years ago, envisages gas for export to countries including China, as well as providing domestic supply.