Gasification with a human face

Aleksey Belogoryev, Deputy Director on Energy Studies at the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented on the "social" gasification project of the constituent entities of Russia to the internet-portal OilCapital.ru.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that the Ministry of Energy has prepared and submitted to the government a roadmap for gasification of Russian regions. According to this document, the level of gasification will increase by 2024 from the current 70% to 75%, and by 2030 - to a maximum of 83%.

Aleksey Belogoryev, Deputy Director for Energy at the Institute for Energy and Finance, believes that Gazprom may abandon a number of network assets in the regions least attractive to it: “When it comes to privatization, it concerns assets that are less profitable for it, for example, the North Caucasus. Gazprom is not going to give up the high-margin business,” the expert noted.

He emphasized that the project of "social" gasification involves reducing the cost of connecting the end consumer to the cost of all work:

“This project is socio-political, and to a greater extent it is political. The economy is conceptually relegated to the background. The government intends to reduce the cost of connection, and Gazprom is not happy with this, since such a policy further reduces the profitability of this business. On the whole, the company is very skeptical about the entire gasification program. In my opinion, it is not an active supporter and driver of this process. Gazprom is fulfilling the government's assignment. At the same time, according to its position, the economically feasible gasification has already been completed,” Belogoryev said.