It is not clear why the gasification of Kamchatka was committed to be worked out at the expense of the Sakhalin-2 project

Alexey Belogoryev, Deputy Principal Director on Energy Studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to Davydov.Index on gas supply to the Kamchatka Territory.

If we talk about the gasification of Kamchatka, then its new projects began to appear since the problems with the development of deposits in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk arose. These deposits were previously intended for long-term gas supply to the region. Therefore, alternatives were required, especially since, due to a shortage of gas, heat generation in the region was periodically forced to switch from gas to fuel oil. It is both expensive and not environmentally friendly.

However, the gasification of the territory was initially unattractive for Gazprom and other oil and gas companies due to the need for large capital investments and a very narrow sales market. Without going into the issues of the region's economy, we can say that the gasification project was on the verge of profitability - if at all it was possible to talk about it. It was clear that the gasification of the territory would have a pronounced social character.

As for logistics and gas reserves in the region, there are, strictly speaking, geological discoveries of gas. But the development of these deposits not only requires very large investments, but also will not pay off. In this regard, apparently, the idea arose to use the supply of liquefied natural gas from Sakhalin-2.

Another thing is that it is not entirely clear why this particular gas was proposed to be used - given that it is planned to create a transshipment point for the Yamal LNG project in Kamchatka. Perhaps it would be realistic to allocate for the region some part of the gas that will be sent for transshipment.

In principle, this is feasible - but, apparently, it is technically difficult, and therefore we settled on deliveries from Sakhalin-2. As far as I remember, the transshipment point is quite far from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and almost all gas consumers are concentrated in and around the city.