Also taking part in the ceremony were Vladimir Markov, a member of Gazprom’s Management Committee, and Georgy Sperling, General Director of Gazprom Gazoraspredelenie Dalniy Vostok (Far East Gas Distribution), the company responsible for its construction.

    Construction of the 18-km pipeline took place in two stages – in the first stage, a section was laid from the Dalnee gas distribution station to the Botanical Garden gas reduction station. The second stage extended the section from Botanic Garden to the Yuzhnaya distribution centre. The completion of construction will allow for a redistribution of loads between the two distribution centres and an uninterrupted supply of gas to the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk thermal power station.

    “Completing this serious job – Gazprom has completed the loop of the gas pipeline around Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk – will allow for an additional 5,000 homes to be connected to the gas supply system,” Novak told those attending the ceremony.

   “Sakhalin region is rich in resources and it is therefore only fair that its residents have access to gas. This will create new jobs, and boost production. We see that the programme to extend the gas supply is being carried out here, the president’s instructions are being fulfilled.”

   Governor Limarenko extended his thanks to Gazprom.

   “We have a joint programme on extending the gas supply worked out up to 2025. Its scale is about 30 billion roubles ($408 million),” he said.

    “We have now practically 100 % provided Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands with gas. Remote towns will be supplied with liquefied natural gas. To do this, a plant for production of low-tonnage LPG will be built. The technology for delivering the fuel has already been worked out.”

As of 1^st January 2020, about 38 % of Sakahlin region has access to the gas supply system. By 2025, this level should rise to 84 %, according to the programme of gas supply in Sakhalin region over the period 2021-2025 signed last year between Gazprom and the regional government.