OREANDA-NEWS. The Gazprom headquarters hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company's Management Committee and Djoomart Otorbaev, Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic.

It was pointed out that over a short period of time since Gazprom Kyrgyzstan had joined Gazprom Group, significant progress was achieved in the cooperation between the parties. In particular, Gazprom started supplying natural gas to the Republic as well as carried out a whole range of maintenance & repair activities to prepare the local gas networks. It secures uninterrupted gas supply to consumers, inter alia, during the peak loads.

The meeting considered the potential of the cooperation in a wide spectrum of business areas. It was stressed that already in 2015 within the investment program approved by Gazprom on acquiring KyrgyzgazProm the Company planned to heavily invest into the Kyrgyz gas industry. Among other things, it will create more enabling conditions for setting tariffs for consumers.

The parties also discussed the stepwise exploration program for the Kugart and Eastern Mailu-Suu IV blocks. They also addressed the outlooks for Gazprom's participation in advancing the petroleum product market and the power generation industry of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Another item on the agenda was the development of gas transmission and distribution infrastructure of Kyrgyzstan. It was pointed out that the relevant facilities in the Republic were well rundown. In this regard, Gazprom is working out the General Gas Supply and Gasification Scheme of Kyrgyzstan until 2030. The document envisages large-scale reconstruction and upgrade of gas transmission, underground gas storage and distribution facilities. The meeting participants placed a special emphasis on Gazprom's contribution to establishing the autonomous gasification of Kyrgyzstan's southern regions as well as preparing the pre-investment research for the North – South gas trunkline.

It was noted that the integration of Gazprom Kyrgyzstan into Gazprom Group would increase the efficiency of the company's business activities as well as enhance the social security of its employees.