Gazprom has reviewed its long-term energy strategy. The group aims to diversify products and sales markets, enhance the reliability of supplies, higher performance and make the best of its sci-tech potential. Gazprom is intensely increasing its production capacities which nowadays exceed 600 bcm/year of gas. The group is consistently expanding the producing fields in its conventional Nadym-Pur-Taz region. Thus, the Zapolyarnoye field has been brought to its nominal capacity of 130 bcm/year and is currently the most prolific one in Russia. The development of deeper and more hard-to-reach deposits, such as the Achimov deposits in the Urengoy field is underway.
Gazprom is tapping new regions: the Yamal Peninsula, Eastern Siberia, the Far East and the continental shelf. A new gas production center has been established in Yamal and receiving the bulk of gas from the Peninsula's largest Bovanenkovo field with the annual design capacity of 115 bcm/year of gas. Gas production centers of Eastern Russia have been created in Kamchatka and Sakhalin. The work is underway to create gas production centers in Yakutia and the Irkutsk Region. Besides, a large gas production center is being built on the Arctic shelf based, first of all, on the Barents and Kara Seas resources.
The gas transmission system is being extended. In particular, Gazprom plans to build the "Power of Siberia" gas pipeline to convey gas from the Irkutsk and Yakutia gas production centers. In the future the gas pipelines located in the western and eastern parts of Russia will be linked together that will allow creating the Russia-wide Unified Gas Supply System in its pure sense. Gazprom also continues to develop the underground gas storage (UGS) system: in September Russia's 22nd UGS facility was brought online in Kaliningrad and the Volgogradskoye and Bednodemyanovskoye UGS facilities are currently under construction.
Gazprom will step up its presence in the region through the smart combination of pipeline gas and LNG supplies. In particular, the Vladivostok-LNG project targeted at the Asia-Pacific market has entered the investment stage. Overall, the Company expects to increase its share in the global LNG market through the construction of brand new LNG plants.