Konstantin Zaytsev, vice chairman of Energy Committee of State Duma

– Rosatom-Gazprom cooperation is mutually benefitial

On Dec 16 2008 Chairman of the Board of Gazprom OJSC Aleksey Miller and Director General of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko signed a six-year general cooperation agreement. The agreeing parties are planning to implement strategic projects to develop sea and shelf gas deposits (Shtokmanovsky deposit, deposits in Yamal and the Far East); to supply electricity to gas transportation networks for supply of gas to regions of the Russian Federation and export of gas to Western Europe and South-east Asia; to coordinate inter-related investment projects; to develop new technologies, designing competitive (import-substituting) production for enhancing the efficiency of prospecting, extraction, transportation, storage, processing of natural gas and gas condensate. The parties are also planning to develop a program of scientific-technical cooperation to be renewed each three years and to set up a council for coordination of joint action under strategic projects and investment programs.

Today, Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation is gaining leading positions in some specialized fields related to nuclear power engineering but also applicable to other industries. Rosatom is Russia’s leading company in the field of use of complex methods of computer modeling of different processes and use of 3D modeling. In the near future it is planning to master 6D modeling so as to attain optimal controllability of construction processes in terms of time and resource management. Rosatom is also leader in the field of development and introduction of automated control systems. Control of nuclear power plant is a complex scrupulous process requiring maximum efficiency and precision. That’s why automated control system is Rosatom’s masterpiece in the field of production of automated systems. These are just a few examples of Rosatom’s leadership in high-tech fields.

And this is one of the key reasons that have urged Gazprom and Rosatom to establish close cooperation. In the framework of its cooperation with Gazprom, Rosatom has designed Russia’s first integrated automated system for control of technological processes of gas mining, processing and transportation. Most of our gas pipelines are equipped with telecontrol systems manufactured by Rosatom’s companies and allowing to quickly localize possible emergencies.

This all is a good basis for enlarger cooperation. Today Gazprom is facing tasks requiring new approaches and new technologies. The development of Shtokmanovsky deposits and the deposits of Yamal is a hard job strongly complicated by difficult climatic conditions and geological peculiarities and Rosatom’s technologies may prove quite helpful here: from development of new software to supply of electricity.

It is obvious that Rosatom-Gazprom cooperation is mutually beneficial: Rosatom will get an opportunity to offer its scientific-technological capacities on a commercial basis, while Gazprom will get a highly competitive production. Besides, such an alliance will help the companies to resist the global crisis and to optimize their development programs.