Presidential envoy approves Gazprom's plans in Siberia - 28 March, 2003

Proposals for the development of fields in Eastern Siberia presented by Gazprom "deserve close attention," Russian presidential envoy in the Siberian Federal District Leonid Drachevsky announced at an RBC-organized press conference today. He noted that Gazprom was a "powerful and authoritative organization" and there were hardly any other companies that could develop gas resources in Eastern Siberia with the same skills and qualification as Gazprom.

In its proposals, Gazprom reported plans to become the only operator of the natural gas project in Eastern Siberia. Gazprom experts estimated total investments in the development of the Kovykta gas condensate fields in the region at $3.98bn. The construction of a backbone pipeline Kovykta-Balagansk-Proskokovo with an outlet to Irkutsk will cost $4.22bn.