UPDATE: Gazprom to invest 217.9 bln rbl in Sila Sibiri pipeline in 2018

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MOSCOW, Jan 15 (PRIME) -- Russian gas giant Gazprom plans to increase investment in the Sila Sibiri, or Power of Siberia, pipeline by 4% to 217.988 billion rubles in 2018 from 209.8 billion rubles in 2017, as seen by PRIME in the company’s materials on Monday.

In 2014, Gazprom and CNPC signed a contract which envisages that gas supplies via Sila Sibiri or the eastern route would begin in 2019. Gazprom plans to provide China with 38 billion cubic meters gas per year over 30 years. The company will start supplies via the pipe with 5 billion cubic meters, and the pipeline will reach its full capacity in several years.

The company also intends to double investment in the TurkStream pipeline project to 182.4 billion rubles in 2018 from 92.8 billion rubles in 2017.

Construction of the pipeline’s offshore segment comprising two strings with a capacity of 15.75 cubic meters of gas each began on May 7, 2017. The first string of the pipeline is intended to deliver gas to Turkish consumers and is to be commissioned in March. The other string is intended for deliveries to states of southern and southeastern Europe and is to be launched in 2019.

Gazprom will also raise investment in its Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline to 114.5 billion rubles in 2018 from 102.4 billion rubles in 2017, and in the expansion of capacities in Russia’s North-West to provide gas for the pipeline to 98.8 billion rubles in 2018 and to 478.9 billion rubles in 2017-2020.

The Nord Stream-2 project envisages construction of two lines of a natural gas pipeline with an annual capacity of up to 55 billion cubic meters, running from the Russian shore to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Russian gas giant Gazprom will implement the project together with Germany’s E.ON and BASF, Royal Dutch Shell, Austria’s OMV, and France’s Engie.

Gazprom also said it will cut investment in the Ukhta-Torzhok-2 pipeline to 48.1 billion rubles in 2018 from 81.2 billion rubles in 2017.

The pipeline is constructed as an extension of the Northwestern corridor of Russia’s unified gas system in preparation for construction of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline. Construction works started in 2015.

The gas giant said it has postponed the deadline for completion of its 126.965 billion ruble gasification complex near the Portovaya compressor plant in Russia’s western Leningrad Region to 2019 from 2018. Investment in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility will be reduced to 45.4 billion rubles in 2018 from 46.6 billion rubles in 2017. (56.6019 rubles – U.S. $1)

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