Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The start of Russian gas supplies to Uzbekistan through Kazakhstan required a reconfiguration of gas flows in the Russian gas transportation system, as well as a change in the load on the underground gas storage system in the country, the general director of Gazprom UGS LLC Igor Safonov told to Gazprom magazine, Interfax reports.

In October, supplies of Russian gas to Uzbekistan began through the Central Asia - Center gas transportation system, which was switched into reverse mode. The two-year agreement between UzGaztrade JSC and Gazprom Export LLC envisage export volume of 9 million cubic meters per day, almost 2.8 billion cubic meters per year.

As Safonov told the corporate publication, taking into account the start of these deliveries, “an increase in the load on underground gas storage facilities in Volga region and Orenburg region is predicted.”

Today, the Kaluga underground gas storage facility in Kaluga region, the Elshano-Kurdyumskoye underground gas storage facility in Saratov region, the Kanchurinsko-Musinsky underground gas storage complex in the Republic of Bashkortostan, as well as the Udmurt reserve complex are in peak operation, the gas worker recalled.

“The Udmurt reserve complex is one of the company’s key projects in the underground gas storage industry. Its development involves the creation of gas storage facilities in four separate geological structures, combined into a single technological complex. First of all, the task is to ensure reliable gas supply to the population and industrial enterprises of Udmurtia and the entire Nizhnekamsk industrial hub (the cities of Yelabuga, Naberezhnye Chelny, Minnibaevo). At the same time, an increase in gas consumption by enterprises in Udmurtia and Tatarstan will reduce the environmental load in the region compared to the use of alternative fuels,” Safonov said.

In addition, as reported by the corporate publication of Gazprom Transgaz Surgut LLC, in connection with the start of gas supplies through Kazakhstan, the gas transmission capacities of the neighboring gas transport company Gazprom Transgaz Yekaterinburg will be partially reoriented towards exports, while the obligation to meet the needs of the Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions largely falls on Surgut: “This winter we will have to increase fuel supplies along the Urengoy - Chelyabinsk corridor.” The reason for the increase in the load on this pipeline is not only the export of gas to Uzbekistan, but also the accelerating economic development of the Ural region, which began to consume more fuel.”