OREANDA-NEWS.  January 18, 2012. The Gazprom headquarters hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company Management Committee and Rustem Khamitov, President of the Republic of Bashkortostan.

The parties discussed the progress with the Agreement of Cooperation highlighting that Gazprom carried on large-scale investment activities in the Republic. Thus, between 2006 and 2011 the capital investments in Bashkortostan averaged RUB 21 billion. The bulk of funds were allocated for retrofitting of gas trunklines, compressor stations and construction of the Kanchurinsko-Musinskoye underground gas storage (UGS) facility.

Alexey Miller and Rustem Khamitov appreciated the joint gasification efforts of Gazprom and the Bashkortostan Government in the region. Between 2006 and 2011 the Company committed over RUB 1.75 billion for these purposes. The funds were used to construct 13 inter-settlement gas pipelines with the total length of around 250 kilometers. The Government of the Republic has fully met the assumed obligations and constructed 310 kilometers of street-level networks, retrofitted 223 boiler houses and prepared 18,822 households for gas supplies.

This year the Company is going to allocate up to RUB 300 million to construct in Bashkiria four inter-settlement gas pipelines connecting the Maxim Gorky village of the Arkhangelsk District with the Yulukovo settlement of the Gafuri District, the automated gas distribution station of the Mishkino settlement with the Bolshiye Shady village of the Mishkino District, the Bakhmut settlement with the Yamangulovo village of the Kuyurgaza District and an inter-settlement gas pipeline to the Tashla village of the Gafuri District.

The meeting also addressed the cooperation deepening between Gazprom and the Bashkortostan Government. For instance, Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat intends to participate in creating the Salavat industrial park.
Background

Gazprom and the Government of the Republic of Bashkortostan signed the five-year Agreement of Cooperation in June 2003 and extended it in June 2008 for an indefinite period. The Accord on Gasification was inked in June 2003.

Natural gas penetration in Bashkortostan is at 84.3 per cent. The identical figure throughout Russia makes up 63.1 per cent.

The decision to establish the Salavat industrial park was made by the Bashkortostan Government on December 1, 2011. The main idea behind the park is to arrange a process complex that would transform petrochemical products into commercial products at small- and medium-size facilities based at Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat-owned production facilities.