RUSSIAN GAS giant Gazprom has joined the construction project for the Sakhalin-Komsomolsk-Khabarovsk gas pipeline. A Gazprom release says a company delegation has begun a working trip to the Far East Federal District, and will include meetings with the Khabarovsk territory’s Fuel and Energy Minister, Vladimir Slivko, and the management of Daltransgaz, Khabarovskenergo, Khabarovskkraigaz, and Rosneft-Sakhalinmorneftegaz. Daltransgaz is the pipeline construction operator: its main shareholders are Rosneft, Rosneft-Sakhalinmorneftegaz, the Federal Agency for Federal Property Management, the Khabarovsk territorial property ministry, and the Primorye state property management committee. Russia’s energy strategy for the period until 2020 requires the development of new major gas-extraction centres in Eastern Siberia and in the Far East. Gazprom is the coordinator for this, and has up a programme fo developing Eastern Siberian and Far Eastern gas resources, creating a system for supplying gas to Russia’s Eastern regions, and providing a single route for gas exports to Pacific Rim countries. The first section of the Sakhalin-Komsomolsk-Khabarovsk pipeline is planned to carry 4.5 billion cum/yr from Sakhalin deposits to consumers in the Khabarovsk region, and will link with the existing Okha-Komsomolsk pipeline and the Oktyabrskoye-Khabarovsk pipeline, currently under construction; two new compressor stations are planned. The future development of this gas-transport system towards Vladivostok will be the first phase in the creation of a single system of gas extraction and transportation in Eastern Siberia and the Far East, and is expected to give a strong impetus to economic growth in the entire Eastern part of Russia.