OREANDA-NEWS. July 15, 2008. The Management Committee has approved the updated draft investment program and budget (financial plan) of Gazprom for 2008.

The said draft documents are pending endorsement by the Board of Directors.

Pursuant to the draft investment program, the total amount of developed investments will come to RUB 821.66 bln, which is RUB 111.53 bln up compared the investment program, which was approved in December 2007. At the same time, the capital investments will account for RUB 531.2 bln (RUB 51.78 bln more as compared to the investment program approved in December 2007), long-term financial investments – RUB 290.46 bln (RUB 59.75 bln more as compared to the investment program approved in December 2007).

According to the draft budget, the overall cash income & revenues will equal RUB 3.236 trln, which is RUB 311 bln more as compared to the budget approved in December 2007. The total amount of cash liabilities, expenditures and investments will increase by RUB 366 bln and come to RUB 3.38 trln. The amount of financial borrowings will remain unchanged at RUB 90 bln.

The net surplus will total RUB 1.7 bln.

The investment program update is driven, in particular, by the adjustment of investment projects list and the volume of investments for 2008, which was performed taking into account the following aspects: Gazprom’s operating results for 2007; adjustment of the implementation terms of a number of new projects in Eastern Siberia and the Far East including the pilot commissioning of the Chikanskoye gas and condensate field, gas delivery to the Kamchatka Peninsula and Vladivostok; boosting of the Bovanenkovskoye field development and the new Obskaya-Bovanenkovo railroad construction.

The requirement to update the investment program is also conditioned by the share acquisition in some energy companies, investments into the Shtokman field development and the Nord Stream gas pipeline construction projects as well as by Gazprom’s participation in the Sakhalin II project. Additionally, the update is explained by acquisition of the license for the Chayandinskoye field development.

The budget profiles adjustment is conditioned by a change in quantitive and pricing indicators of gas selling as well as in macroeconomic indicators.

Background:

The Gazprom draft investment program for 2008 covers the most prioritized projects.

The major gas production projects are as follows: the development of the Bovanenkovskoye and Shtokman fields. A work will be performed to develop the Kharvutinskaya area of the Yamburgskoye field, the Yen-Yakhinskoye, Urengoyskoye, Zapolyarnoye and other fields.

The major gas transmission projects are the following: the Bovanenkovo-Ukhta gas trunkline systems, the construction of the Gryazovets-Vyborg and Pochinki-Gryazovets gas pipelines, the construction of the NTR-Torzhok gas trunkline and the expansion of the Urengoy gas transmission hub.

The capital investments will also be channeled to gasify and develop the fields of Eastern Siberia and the Far East, reconstruct gas production and transmission key assets, to technically re-equip UGS facilities, carry out engineering & design and geological exploration, and conduct production drilling in fields.

The updated 2008 draft financial investments plan for the long-term, envisages Gazprom’s participation in the Nord Stream and Sakhalin II projects, oil and gas condensate fields of the Arctic shelf development projects including the Prirazlomnoye and Shtokman fields as well as obtaining of energy assets. The plan takes into account financing of projects for fields development abroad (in Block 112 of the Republic of Vietnam, India’s Bengal Bay), granting of long-term loans to Gazprom’s subsidiaries operating on the Yuzhno-Russkoye field, in the Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Caspian Sea offshore.

The draft investment program provides for commissioning in 2008 of 1268 km of gas trunklines and branches, nine compressor stations within gas pipelines and UGS facilities with the total capacity of 723 MW, four booster stations, two gas treatment plants, to hook up 100 production gas wells and 11 UGS wells.