Official website of the President of Russia

Документ   /

The meeting focused on the company’s socially oriented project, Gazprom for Children. Over 1,300 sports and cultural facilities were built or renovated between 2007 and 2015 under the programme. Via video linkup, the President reviewed the operation of new sports facilities in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Kursk, the village of Kantemirovka in the Voronezh Region, and the village of Suzemka in the Bryansk Region.

* * *

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Miller, tomorrow is the 25^th anniversary of Gazprom, which is probably Russia’s strongest company with state participation. Congratulations to you and everybody working for Gazprom, the huge team of this major company. I want to note that over these 25 years, giant strides have been made to consolidate, maintain and advance the industry.

We all remember very well the time when the state almost lost control of this company. Gazprom is without exaggeration the backbone of Russian’s economy. For many years, when in the 1990s and the early 2000s our national economy was experiencing difficulties, Gazprom helped the economy to stay afloat. The company produced the much-needed resources for power and heat generation, at the prices and rates clearly below market rates. Thanks to that, other industries had the opportunity to concentrate on their operations, upgrade outdated capacities and invest in development.

Gazprom itself has made immense progress in terms of technological modernisation and expanding its opportunities. Gazprom is currently operating 151 gas fields. I doubt that any other company in the world has cast out so many lines, in a positive sense.

Gazprom has a presence in 34 countries, where it is very active in the market and cooperates with many partners and friends. I know that Gazprom is growing not only domestically, by increasing the amount of gas supplied to our residential areas but is also very visible abroad. A significant amount of the budget revenue comes from its exports.

Congratulations to you and all Gazprom employees on the company’s anniversary and its achievements.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller: Mr President,

Gazprom is celebrating its 25^th anniversary at the top of global rankings. The company ranks first among the world's top 250 oil, gas, and power companies. Gazprom boasts the world’s largest gas reserves at over 17 percent of the world total. It is consistently increasing its resource potential due to the fact that, since 2005, the company's reserve growth has been consistently higher than the volume of annual gas production.

New gas production centres have been built in the Russian Far East and Eastern Siberia. Most importantly, the new Yamal gas production centre was built from the ground up in the Arctic and is about to become the key production centre within Gazprom. Significant increases in Gazprom’s gas reserves are observed on Yamal. Gas reserves of the Tambeyskaya group of deposits amount to 7.7 trillion cubic metres.

Gazprom has a large production complex with a capacity of over 550 billion cubic metres. With annual production at 471 billion in 2017, this allows the company to promptly and reliably meet Russian consumers’ peak demand during the autumn and winter, and also meet the growing demand for Russian pipeline gas on foreign markets.

The company is consistently expanding its gas transportation system. The length of Gazprom’s gas mainlines currently amounts to over 170,000 kilometres, which makes it the world’s longest gas transportation system. Highly skilled experts say that our country’s unified gas supply system is the most reliable one internationally. It makes it possible to synchronise in real time the modes of gas production, transport, storage and distribution.

Gazprom has the largest gas storage capacities in the world. For the 2017−2018 heating season, we deposited record amounts of gas, or 72.2 billion cubic metres, which is the double of the 1993 output.

It should be noted that in the past seven years, since 2010, Gazprom has increased the daily output of its underground gas storage (UGS) facilities by more than 30 percent. By the current heating season we had set a historic record of 805.3 million cubic metres per day as of the first day of gas withdrawal.

The provision of gas supply programme is, without doubt, the main socially oriented programme. Mr President, we started this programme in mid-2005 as per your instruction. Since that time, we have built more than 30,000 km of gas pipelines, connected more than 4,000 residential areas to gas networks. Russia’s rate of gas supply was 68.1 percent as of January 1, 2018.

As you requested, we prioritised provision of gas supply to rural areas. There has been a 70 percent increase in rural areas connected to gas over the course of the programme. As of January 1, 2018, 58.7 percent of rural areas in Russia had gas. It should be noted that this rate is higher than the national gas supply rate of 2005.

Gazprom is a reliable gas supplier not only for Russia but also for Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Last year, the company set a historic record by exporting 194.4 billion cubic metres of gas. Currently, it has a record high share of the European gas market at 34.7 percent.

Since 1993, the company has increased exports by 90 percent and it should be noted that the past three years account for the most significant growth, which is 30 percent. Year on year to 2014, Gazprom exports more than 47 billion cubic metres of gas.

The demand for Russian pipeline gas in foreign markets is growing, which is why we are working on new export-oriented projects such as Turkish Stream and Nord Stream 2.

Mr President, at your instruction, Gazprom is implementing the Eastern gas programme to supply gas to consumers in the Russian Far East and Eastern Siberia, and to create export infrastructure for supplying our gas to Asian markets. To this end, we are developing the Sakhalin gas production centre, the Chayandinskoye and the Kovyktinskoye fields, and are building the Power of Siberia gas pipeline. To date, over 1,520 km have been built which constitutes two-thirds of the entire length of the linear portion of the gas pipeline from the Chayandinskoye field. The gas will be piped to the world’s most dynamic gas market, China, starting December 20, 2019.

Gazprom is building the Amur gas processing plant with a capacity of 42 billion cubic metres of gas as part of the Eastern gas programme. This plant will become our country’s most powerful gas processing plant and the world’s second largest such plant.

Mr President, you said businesses should be socially responsible, so, at your initiative, Gazprom is implementing the Gazprom for Children programme.

Vladimir Putin: What year did you start?

Alexei Miller: 2007. During these years, we have built and renovated over 1,600 sites in 73 regions and built 120 sports and recreation centres at these sites which are now used by more than 100,000 people.

Our country has a good tradition of celebrating anniversaries with workplace achievements and by opening new production sites. To celebrate the anniversary of Gazprom, we are about to open major athletic complexes in four regions, namely, the Khabarovsk Territory, as well as the Kursk, Voronezh and Bryansk regions.

We have Komsomolsk-on-Amur on the line.

Vladimir Putin: Go ahead.

Vadim Navoyenko: Mr President, Mr Miller,

Vadim Navoyenko, deputy general director for capital construction at Gazprom Investgazifikatsiya, reporting from Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

As part of the Gazprom for Children programme, we have built a modern sports and recreation centre which includes a large all-purpose athletic hall for game sports, a 25-metre lap pool, and specialised gyms for weight and fitness training. The total area of ​​the complex amounts to 6,500 square metres with a capacity of over 200 visitors.

The complex was built in a densely populated Privokzalny micro-district, which was devoid of sports infrastructure. And now thousands of children can enjoy physical activity and sports right next to their homes.

Thank you.

Alexei Miller: We have Kursk on the line.

Anatoly Yerkulov: Good afternoon, Mr President, Mr Miller.

Anatoly Yerkulov, deputy general director for capital construction and investment at the Gazprom Mezhregiongaz company, speaking live from Kursk.

The Kursk Region traditionally has been a strong centre for horse breeding and equestrian sports in Russia. In the past, there was a youth equestrian school at the local hippodrome on Magistralnaya Street, which was very popular with local children. Therefore, we built a modern complex for a new equestrian school right here, at this very place, within the framework of the Gazprom for Children programme. The complex comprises an indoor riding arena, a stable for 100 horses, storage houses for fodder and hay, as well as auxiliary premises.

The scope of the complex is really impressive. It sprawls across nine hectares and has a total area of 75,000 square metres. There is an outdoor field 50 metres by 80 metres and training grounds totalling 13,000 square metres in area.

The new infrastructure has everything needed both for training and competitions in various equestrian sports. Right in front of your eyes a training session is under way: children of the Kursk Region are training with coach Yulia Zhilina. In the near future, our complex will host hurdle racing competitions as part of Victory Cup, devoted to Hero of the Soviet Union Boris Sugerov.

And so, all necessary conditions have been created in the Kursk Region to enable the school’s riders and their horses to shine in Russian and international arenas.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Alexei Miller: We are being joined by the town of Kantemirovka, Voronezh Region.

Alexei Bazhanov: Good afternoon, Mr President, Mr Miller.

Alexei Bazhanov, general director of Gazprom Investgazifikatsiya.

We are in the village of Kantemirovka in the Voronezh Region. The Kantemirovsky district is one of the farthest from the region's administrative centre. It is located in the south of the Voronezh Region. The distance from here to Voronezh is 279 kilometres.

The Kantemirovsky district has a population of 35,000, including 3,000 children aged between 6 and 18. Earlier, they lacked the right conditions for all-around fitness and sports. The fitness and health centre, which was built as part of the Gazprom for Children programme and which we are opening today, consists of two swimming pools: a 25-metre lap pool for adults and a 10-metre lap pool for children, plus a universal gym space. The total area of the centre is 3,000 square metres. Sixty-three people can exercise here simultaneously. This is a much-needed sports facility that will do local residents, especially, children a lot of good.

Thank you.

Alexei Miller: The village of Suzemka, Bryansk Region, is on the line.

Vladimir Priymak: Good afternoon.

Mr President, Mr Miller,

I am Vladimir Priymak, general director of Gazprom’s Fund for Supporting Social Initiatives, from the village of Suzemka.

Winter ice sports have become particularly popular in the Bryansk Region, including figure skating and hockey. There are already several children's hockey teams in the Suzemsky district with a population of about 15,000. Until recently, children could practice only in winter on open rinks at schools. The nearest indoor rink is located 40 kilometres away in Trubchevsk.

However, thanks to the Gazprom for Children programme, young hockey players can now practice at home, in a new modern complex, all year round.

Our complex with an area of ​3,500 square metres has a full-sized 60m x 30m hockey rink. There is also a gym with weights and exercise machines, as well as all the necessary auxiliary facilities. It has a capacity of 120 visitors. We hope that our complex will help local children make full use of their athletic talents.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Mr Priymak, how much does is cost to build such a complex?

Vladimir Priymak: About 430 million rubles.

Vladimir Putin: And how quickly did you build it?

Vladimir Priymak: It took us two years to build it, Mr President.

Vladimir Putin: That is quick. Thank you.

I have a word to say to my colleagues in the regions, Mr Navoyenko, Mr Yerkulov, Mr Bazhanov and Mr Priymak. I want to thank you and ask you to convey my best regards to everyone involved in building these sites.

Thank you very much.

Remark: Thank you, Mr President.

Vladimir Putin: The programme you just mentioned and some of the results we just reviewed are of great importance for the regions. Gazprom is a network company operating in almost every Russian region. I know that you did this not only because I asked, but also because the company and its senior executives are committed to supporting children's sports on a systemic basis. Please keep up the good work.

Alexei Miller: Will do.

Vladimir Putin: I congratulate you and Gazprom staff on your 25^th anniversary. I hope that Gazprom will continue to work as efficiently as it did until now.

Alexei Miller: Thank you, Mr President.