Gazprom-AR2014

66
Performance Results
Gas transportation and underground storage overseas
Gazprom is responsible for uninterrupted gas supplies to Belarus, Armenia and
Kyrgyzstan. The Group is continuously expanding its underground gas storage facilities
in European countries.
A third cavern,
the 50 mmcm
Katharina UGSF,
was commissioned
in 2014. The total
active capacity
of the UGSFs
increased by 45%
to reach 170 mmcm.
As of 31 December 2014, the Group’s companies owned the gas transportation systems of Belarus,
Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
OAO Gazprom transgaz Belarus is the Group’s major gas transportation asset abroad.
It supplies natural gas to users in Belarus, as well as to Europe and the Kaliningrad Region through
transit.
In 2014, the inflow to the 7.9 thousand km GTS operated by OAO Gazprom transgaz Belarus
was 65 bcm of gas, including 45 bcm transported via Belarus in transit.
ZAO Gazprom Armenia, a subsidiary of the Group, owns the GTS in the Republic of Armenia,
which comprises 1.7 thousand km of trunk gas pipelines. The GTS in Armenia received a total
of 2 bcm of gas in 2014.
In July 2014, OAO Gazprom bought a 100% interest in OsOO KyrgyzgazProm importing natural
gas to Kyrgyzstan under exclusive license and owning the republic’s gas transportation and
distribution systems.
The GTS in Kyrgyzstan received a total of 4.3 bcm of gas in 2014, including 4.0 bcm for transit.
Gazprom’s gas is also transported via foreign countries by a number of companies in which
the Group holds a non-controlling stake. In 2014, c. 35% of the total European gas transit went via
offshore cross-border pipeline systems constructed with the support of the Group: Blue Stream
(14.4 bcm) and Nord Stream (35.5 bcm). The increase in gas transportation via the Nord Stream
was due to new contracts involving the newly commissioned NEL pipeline (an inland westward
extension through Germany).
Gazprom uses UGSFs outside Russia to make its gas exports more reliable.
In Europe, the Group as a co-investor has access to the active capacity of UGSFs in Austria
(Haidach), Germany (Rehden, Katharina), Serbia (Banatski Dvor), and the Netherlands (Bergermeer).
Additionally, the Group rents third-party gas storage capacity from Vitol (UGSFs in Germany
and UK), OMV and RAG ES (Austria), MFGK (Hungary). In 2014, Gazprom’s European gas
storage capacity totalled 5.4 bcm, with a throughput capacity of 74.6 mmcm per day.
In 2014, a total of 4.6 bcm of gas was supplied to European UGSFs, with a total gas offtake of
2.4 bcm. The y-o-y increase of injection volumes was caused by the need to fill own UGSFs and
to build up storage capacity due to the higher exposure of Russian gas transit via Ukraine. At the
same time, the low offtake was due to mild weather, repairs of the gas transportation infrastructure,
and buyers’ requests.
According to EU laws and regulations, European gas companies have non-discriminatory
access to underground gas storage facilities, including those built involving Gazprom. The capacity
of UGSFs built with Gazprom’s participation is allotted through auctions open to any company
meeting auction requirements and EU laws and regulations. Information concerning available
capacity, as well as ongoing and future auctions and their results, is transparent and openly published.
In the FSU countries, the Group’s companies own three UGSFs in Belarus (Pribugskoye,
Osipovichskoye and Mozyrskoye) and one in Armenia (Abovyanskaya undergroung gas storage
station), in addition to renting capacity in Latvia (Incukalns UGSF). As of 31 December 2014, the
operating gas reserve in UGSFs in the FSU countries, owned or rented by the Group, totalled
3.1 bcm, with a throughput capacity of 56 mmcm per day. In 2014, a total of 2.9 bcm of gas was
supplied to FSU UGSFs, with a total gas offtake of 2.5 bcm.
OAO Gazprom Annual Report 2014