Alexey Miller holds meeting on preliminary results for this year
Alexey Miller: Esteemed colleagues, Dear friends,
According to our tradition, in late December, we take stock of the past year.
In 2024 Gazprom, as always, was working steadily and in a concerted manner for the benefit of Russia and its people.
We provided Russian consumers with reliable gas supplies and set a plethora of new records. We reached a new all-time high for daily gas supplies to consumers via the Unified Gas Supply System of Russia at 1.815 billion cubic meters. This year, about 390 billion cubic meters of gas will be delivered to consumers via Gazprom's gas transmission system. This is the highest volume of supplies in the entire history of observation. I congratulate everyone on such wonderful achievements! Truly, we are writing the history of our gas industry.
And, of course, these figures show clearly that the economy and social sphere of Russia are steadily developing. And Gazprom is deeply involved in this process.
First of all, we perform extensive gas infrastructure expansion and additional gas grid expansion across Russia. We are implementing these programs pursuant to the instructions issued by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation. This year alone, gas pipelines reached more than 500 villages and rural settlements. This way, we have laid the groundwork for connecting new consumers to gas in the rural areas of our country.
The implementation of the additional gas grid expansion program is in full swing. It should be noted that we accelerate the pace of these works every month. The number of the contracts completely performed is growing very rapidly. As of today, the actual number of the contracts completely performed, i.e. the contracts under which gas pipelines have already reached the boundaries of households, is as large as 1.17 million. Plus there are contracts related to land plots located in gardeners' non-commercial partnerships and healthcare and social facilities which are also being connected to gas.
There is no doubt that gas brings a more comfortable life to millions of people and, naturally, it is cost-effective for Russian families. As for the industrial and agricultural sectors, gas fosters their confident and progressive development.
Power and heat at homes and at production facilities are also the result of our efforts and work. We are systematically enhancing the reliability of our generating facilities. We build new state-of-the-art infrastructure. The year 2024 was no exception.
In this regard, I would like to note the work of Gazprom Energoholding, which put into operation upgraded power units at major power plants, namely at CHPP-23 in Moscow and at the Kirishi SDPP in the Leningrad Region, and started the construction of the Yuzhno-Yakutsk TPP, which is of utmost importance for eastern Russia.
And eastern Russia is also the place where a very important project was commenced by us: the project to connect the gas supply system present in the east of the country with the gas supply system of its European part. We have already started the works under the first stage of the project, namely the construction of the Belogorsk – Khabarovsk gas pipeline that will connect the Power of Siberia and Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas pipelines. Of course, this will be a historic event, as it will make gas supplies between two major Russian regions more reliable and flexible.
We carry out the works under the project at a vigorous pace, and are going ahead of schedule at some sections. I would like to highlight that such city as Birobidzhan, the capital of the Jewish Autonomous Region, will be connected to the gas grid under this project.
We built the Power of Siberia gas pipeline as many as five years ago. Power of Siberia delivers gas to the consumers in the east of Russia. This year, we connected such large city of Russia's east as Blagoveshchensk in the Amur Region to gas from Power of Siberia.
And, of course, Power of Siberia makes it possible for us to provide reliable gas supplies to the consumer which is currently the key one for us abroad, i.e. China. Without any doubt, December 1 can be considered the most remarkable day of 2024 for Gazprom, as on the first of December, one month before the contractual date, we brought Power of Siberia to its maximum design capacity of 38 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
During that short period of time, a little over three weeks, we set two new records in terms of daily gas exports to China. It means that Gazprom's supplies were outstripping its maximum daily contractual obligations towards its Chinese partners.
We do already know that the planned volume of supplies to China for 2024 will be exceeded, as we will supply around 31 billion cubic meters of gas versus the planned amount of 30 billion cubic meters. The fact that Power of Siberia has already started working at its maximum design capacity suggests that in 2025 our gas supplies to China will also outstrip the contractual volumes.
We are actively working on another export gas transmission route of gas supplies to China. I am referring to the Far Eastern route. It will be brought into operation in January 2027.
Dear co-workers,
as we can see, gas consumption is growing in Russia, and it is also growing in China. We are stepping up our gas supplies to Central Asia, where gas consumption is also growing due to the economic development. In 2024, global gas consumption rose by 100 billion cubic meters, but the bulk of this growth is attributable to just three countries: Russia, China and India.
It is a fact that Gazprom has the largest gas reserves in the world. There is no doubt that these reserves will last for many years to come. Some of our fields will, according to their development projects, produce gas until 2134. And this is just the beginning.
This is guaranteed by our responsible work on the replenishment of the resource base. For as long as 20 years, Gazprom has been ensuring that its reserve replacement ratio exceeds 1.
We also do not forget about the efficient development of the existing reserves. This year, we started the production from deep-lying Achimov formations at Block 3А of the Urengoyskoye field.
As for the gas production volumes of the Gazprom Group, the figure for 2024 will be about 416 billion cubic meters. Can you imagine, this is an increase of 61 billion cubic meters of gas versus 2023.
Let us now move on to another very important area of our activities: processing. Gazprom is developing its processing business in order to provide the national economy with products that are highly sought after in many industries. The main thing is that the related industries use those products to manufacture a very wide range of consumer goods that are in demand among Russian people and our consumers.
In 2024, we launched the fourth production train at the Amur Gas Processing Plant. I congratulate you on this achievement! This was indeed a positive professional challenge for Gazprom, and the Company delivered a great result. Congratulations! We have commenced the start-up & commissioning operations at the fifth production train.
Gazprom is building the complex near Ust-Luga, which will be the world's second-largest. Today, the Ust-Luga complex is 46 per cent complete. This project is already beyond the point of no return.
The performance of our oil refining business is very impressive. In 2024, Gazprom Neft increased, firstly, its oil refining volumes, and secondly, the production of gasoline and diesel fuel. What is even more important, it increased the production of domestic base synthetic oils by three times. These are excellent and impressive results.
In October, Gazprom launched new processing capacities at the Urengoy Condensate Treatment Plant. As a result, the output of the facility increased. The project is indeed unique: for the first time in the history of the domestic gas processing sector, the distributed system for processing equipment control of Russian make was employed there. This has never happened before in the industry. And Gazprom did it.
This is just an example of our work on securing the technological sovereignty of Russia. We actively cooperate with Russian enterprises, industrial sector and scientific research institutions. The scale of this work is just stratospheric.
This was clearly seen at the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum, which featured 50,000 square meters of exhibition areas full of equipment, stands and the latest technologies of Russian enterprises. Companies from 53 countries from all over the world took part in the Forum, and there were many companies from countries unfriendly to the Russian Federation. The Forum brought together 35,000 participants. And there was not even a single participant who managed to visit all of the stands and see all of the equipment and state-of-the-art technologies on display during the four days of the Forum. This is confirmed by chronological data.
Of course, I would like to mention Gazprom's exhibit displayed at the Forum. We presented the new-generation domestic gas turbine engine AL-41ST-25. The engine prototype has already been implemented and is under pilot operation. I would like to once again thank you for this achievement. It was not easy, but you did really great! You did not give up and got the result. And the result is excellent!
Let me mention another facility that is unique to Russia. It is Gazprom's Metrology Center featuring the National Primary Standard for gas flow. The Center was launched in October 2024. Russia's Metrology Center provides for a full, I stress, full independence with regard to measuring and recording gas flow volumes, which is of crucial importance for the energy security of our country. This year, we have completed the creation of Gazprom's Metrology Center. We are absolutely independent from the outside world as regards metrology aspects.
Dear co-workers,
Gazprom is constantly developing and looking for new opportunities to enhance efficiency. As you know, the Gazprom Group made a decision to implement a service model for providing support functions. We are creating a shared service center where service-providing assets will be consolidated. It involves such functions as accounting and calculations, real estate management, HR recording, legal support, digital services and end-customer support.
There are four main components behind this approach. The first three of them are centralization, unification and automation of processes, while the fourth and the main component is that the support function starts cooperating with the core business as a partner. And that is the most important thing. For this very purpose, we are creating our center.
What will we get as a result? As a result, our work will be facilitated by this shared service center which will allow Gazprom to concentrate its efforts on solving strategic tasks and will allow the service center employees to focus on improving the quality of services for the Gazprom Group.
We began an extremely significant endeavor, a very significant project, and I am sure that it will prove to be really efficient. I have no doubts in this regard, because the people who are implementing this project are highly qualified, proficient and experienced, like everyone at Gazprom. So, I am convinced that this project will be very efficient for Gazprom.
Dear friends,
We are doing much for preserving the cultural and historical heritage of Russia.
For instance, a large-scale restoration was performed at the Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum and at the Zubov Wing in the Catherine Palace in Pushkin with support from our Company. It goes beyond world's masterpieces of architecture and decorative arts. It is primarily a living Russian history, a great history of our country. Our duty is to preserve the history of our country for all our future generations, so that new generations of Russians remember the feats, victories and deeds of former generations.
This year, a new documentary drama titled “Catherine the Great” was launched by Gazprom-Media Holding. It is the third film from the series of films titled “Russia.” You already know the first two films of the series: “Peter I: the Last Tsar and the First Emperor” and “Empresses.” Of course, such projects are very important. They help better understand the history of our country and feel the link between generations.
Dear friends,
2024 has been declared the Year of the Family in Russia. Here at Gazprom, we create the conditions for the employees not only to have an interesting job, but also to be socially protected.
A vivid example is the Amur Gas Processing Plant. In the town of Svobodny, we are building a new residential microdistrict for the Amur Gas Processing Plant's employees which will accommodate 5,000 people. The majority of the houses are already occupied by residents. As you know, in September, we opened a modern school. Today, we open a new kindergarten near the school.
Yury Lebedev, Director General of Gazprom Pererabotka Blagoveshchensk, has joined us.
Mr. Lebedev, you have the floor.
Yuri Lebedev: Good afternoon, dear Mr. Miller!
In the year 2024, the Year of the Family, the facilities of essential importance for the families of the Amur Gas Processing Plant's employees opened the doors in the Alexeevsky microdistrict, a new gas workers' microdistrict of the town of Svobodny. New residential houses and a new Gazprom school were commissioned. And today, we are standing inside the newly built kindergarten.
Vladimir Konstantinov, Head of Svobodny, Mikhail Shirokov, Director General of the Zhiloy Mikrorayon developer company, and Tatiana Pogorelova, Head of Kindergarten No. 7 in Svobodny, are standing next to me.
The construction of the kindergarten in fully completed. The building is ready-to-use and the commissioning permit for it has been obtained. The plant employees have been waiting for the kindergarten to open its doors for a long time. Many gas workers moved to the Far East with their families raising small children. Quite a lot of our workers started families here, in Svobodny. More than 1,000 children under seven years old are growing in these families. Many of them were born here, in the Amur Region.
Mr. Miller, just yesterday, a contract was signed providing for a gratuitous transfer of the new kindergarten to the town. Today, in the presence of Vladimir Konstantinov, Head of Svobodny, a symbolic Use Right Certificate is handed over by Mikhail Shirokov, Director General of the developer company, to Tatiana Pogorelova, Head of Kindergarten No. 7.
(handover ceremony)
Dear Mr. Miller,
On behalf of all employees of the Amur GPP, I sincerely thank you for Gazprom's contribution to the development of the Far East. We wish all of you a happy New Year!
Alexey Miller: Thank you! Congratulations, Mr. Lebedev! Congratulations, Mr. Konstantinov! I congratulate the team of the Zhiloy Mikrorayon developer company and the team of the new kindergarten. I congratulate the entire team of Gazprom Pererabotka Blagoveshchensk. And, of course, all residents of the town of Svobodny. Happy New Year!
Let us continue our celebratory meeting.
We are implementing truly unique projects. Without any doubt, Gazprom's team is constantly developing and acquiring new competencies.
This year's results of the Company are also worth mentioning here. The professional level of Gazprom's employees is very high. I will give an example: for the second year in a row, we became the winners of the World Construction Championship. Gazprom won the most gold, silver and bronze medals. The results prove that the best construction specialists in Russia are working at Gazprom. Congratulations! I wish you further success and new achievements.
Dear friends,
The year 2024 was productive for us and, as always, it was marked with new records.
The year 2025 will be just as challenging and will require from us even more concentration, attention and energy. However, we are absolutely sure that all goals and all tasks lying ahead of Gazprom for 2025 will be achieved. We have no doubt that they will be achieved to the highest professional expectations.
I would like to wish you a happy New Year and a blessed Merry Christmas!
I wish you and your loved ones happiness, health, a flourishing life, and success in everything you do. I wish you all the best and joyous in your life.
And, as we always say at Gazprom, let us go on with our work.