Gazprom supplied 20 bln cubic metres of gas to German ruhrgas in 2001

In 2001 Gazprom delivered over 20 billion cubic metres of gas to the German Ruhrgas company. In all, Russia's gas share in gas imports to Ruhrgas makes up 35 percent. Chairman of the Ruhrgas Board Burckhard Bergmann said as much speaking Tuesday at a conference summing up the company's record in 2001. He noted that Russian gas imports to the company totaled 400 billion cubic metres since its purchases in 1973 for the period at issue. However, Bergmann added that Ruhrgas did not plan to increase Russian gas purchases soon. As to co-operation with Gazprom, he stressed that Ruhrgas participated in joint projects with the Russian company on the construction of pipelines to increase the transport capabilities of Gazprom and extend its transit corridors for Russian gas supplies to Western Europe. Among these projects, Bergmann named the project of constructing a pipeline to Slovakia via Belarus and Eastern Poland, and designing a new pipeline Russia-the Baltic Sea-North-Eastern Germany.