The Gazprom headquarters hosted a meeting held by Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and dedicated to the formation of the Yakutia gas production center as part of the Eastern Gas Program implementation.

Taking part in the meeting were heads and experts of the Gazprom structural units and subsidiaries.

The meeting highlighted that the system work of the Company in Eastern Russia would enable, first, to cover the demand for natural gas in Eastern Siberia and the Far East in the long term. Moreover, the resource base of the Eastern fields will reinforce the Company's standing in the Asia-Pacific market, including the LNG supply sector.

Gazprom is actively working on the construction of large gas production centers in Eastern Russia. The Yakutia center, based on the Chayandinskoye field, is projected as one of the main centers.

As part of geological exploration operations, the Company currently explores the geological structure of the Chayandinskoye field, the formation geometry and the degree of pay zones saturation. More than a half of the reserves have already been classified as proven. The full complex of geological exploration is planned to be accomplished by 2015. In the next three years it is projected to drill more than twenty prospecting wells and to conduct 3D seismic surveys covering 3,700 square kilometers.

So far, Gazprom has finished elaboration of the Investment Rationale for the Chayandinskoye field facilities construction, gas transport and processing. The meeting was informed on the Investment Rationale results. The investment decision on the start of the field development and the Yakutia – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas trunkline construction is to be made by the end of the current year.

“We have already made a decision on the acceleration of the Eastern Gas Program. Every project of the Program will be given a serious consideration. Chayanda is one of the key elements of the Eastern Gas Program. Among other things, the field will be a source of gas for the prospective LNG plant in Vladivostok. Soon we will move to the design stage in Chayanda,” Alexey Miller said.

The meeting participants paid special attention to rational use of the Eastern fields multicomponent gas containing a large amount of helium , a strategic resource. The meeting addressed the issues of helium extraction, recovery and use.

Following the meeting results, the Gazprom core structural units were entrusted to prepare an integrated action plan for building of the gas production, gas transmission and gas processing facilities using gas from the Yakutia gas production center.

Background

The state-run Development Program for an integrated gas production, transportation and supply system in Eastern Siberia and the Far East, taking into account potential gas exports to China and other Asia-Pacific countries (Eastern Gas Program) was adopted in September 2007 pursuant to the Russian Industry and Energy Ministry Order. Gazprom was appointed by the Russian Federation Government as the Program execution coordinator.

It is projected to construct new gas production centers in Eastern Russia: Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Yakutia, Sakhalin and Kamchatka.

The Chayandinskoye oil, gas and condensate field with the subsurface use license held by Gazprom, is the cornerstone for the Yakutia gas production center. The field is located in the Lensk District, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). C1+C2 reserves of the field make up 1.3 trillion cubic meters of gas, recoverable oil and condensate reserves – 79.1 million tons.

In December 2011 Gazprom obtained two subsurface use licenses for the Sobolokh-Nedzhelinskoye, Verkhnevilyuchanskoye, Tas-Yuryakhskoye and Srednetyungskoye fields located in Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).