Gazprom to Increase This Winter's Supply

Russian giant Gazprom says it has taken steps which would avoid the shortages of gas supply seen in the past winter with an additional two per cent storage and production planned by the end of the year.

Harsh weather conditions saw the company struggle to keep up with supply to European customers earlier this year with many dealing with less gas imports than requested from the company. However, Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Vitaly Markelov says that the company aims to increase gas supply capabilities by this winter.

Two projects due to be commissioned this year will contribute greatly to the increased gas production and storage, Mr. Markelov said. These are the Bovanenkovo, part of the Yamal project, and the Samburg field.

"Taking into account all these launches, we expect that Gazprom's output during winter of 2012/2013 could reach around 1.644 billion cubic metres (bcm) a day," Mr. Markelov told Gazprom's company magazine in an interview. "This is almost 2 percent higher than the last winter's peak."

February saw Gazprom's resources stretched to their limits following one of the harshest cold snaps across Europe in recent years. The company reported last month that February had seen record off-take of gas from the company, at a daily withdrawal level of 638.7 million cubic of metres at peak levels.