OREANDA-NEWS Russia aims "as soon as possible" to connect a single gas supply system with highways in the east of the country, writes Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak in an article in the journal "Energy Policy".

"In order to meet the needs of the domestic market for natural gas, large-scale work is underway on the development of a Unified Gas Supply System (UGS) in the East of Russia. The plans are to connect the Power of Siberia and Sakhalin-Khabarovsk- Vladivostok gas transportation systems with the ESG as soon as possible. Preparations for the implementation of this project are already underway. Gazprom, together with the Ministry of Energy of Russia, is also working on the issue of accelerating the construction of a gas pipeline-a bridge between the main gas pipelines "Power of Siberia" and "Sakhalin - Khabarovsk - Vladivostok," the official said.

"The priority plans include the development of the gas supply infrastructure of the Komsomolsk industrial hub and the city of Vladivostok, acceleration of the commissioning of the Yuzhno-Kirinsky gas processing plant on the shelf of O. Sakhalin," he added.

Novak said that one of the key tasks is to expand the gasification program: "This implies the inclusion in it of the maximum possible number of subjects of the country, including the Republic of Buryatia, the Republic of Tyva, the Trans-Baikal Territory, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Amur Region, the Irkutsk Region and the Jewish Autonomous Region."

The Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field is Gazprom's largest field in the Far East with gas reserves of industrial categories B1+B2 over 600 billion cubic meters. It is expected to produce 21 billion cubic meters of gas per year.