Up: spending on local pipe from Sakhalin to Khabarovsk and Vladivostok
Gazprom boosts pipe spend to $1.6bn
Russian giant Gazprom has decided to boost spending on the construction of a gas pipeline from Sakhalin to the Russian mainland to 50 billion roubles ($1.6 billion) this year, a senior executive said today.
Gazprom recently started work on the link, which will run from Sakhalin to Khabarovsk before terminating at the Pacific port city of Vladivostok. The pipeline will be able to carry 30 billion cubic metres of gas per year.
"Due to the accelerated pace of work it was decided to increase spending on the project this year to 50 billion roubles," Gazprom deputy chief executive Alexander Ananenkov said in a statement.
The previously allocated budget was not revealed.
Gazprom is now "actively mobilising construction efforts" and is buying pipe for the project, he said.
The 1830-kilometre pipeline, which will terminate at Vladivostok, is due to come into operation in the third quarter of 2011.
Gazprom added it is also considering building a gas liquefaction plant and gas chemical facility at Vladivostok. Both plants would source feedstock from the Sakhalin pipeline.
During a visit to Tokyo earlier this month, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin invited Japanese companies to take part in the construction of the pipeline, as well as the proposed LNG plant.
A report published by Japanese newspaper Nikkei Business Daily at the time said Russia was seeking Japan's financial and technological assistance, but this claim has been neither confirmed nor denied by the Russians.