A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and heads of Russian pipe companies took place today in St. Petersburg.

The meeting featured Alexey Mordashov, Chairman of the Severstal Board of Directors, Dmitry Pumpyansky, Chairman of the TMK Board of Directors, Andrey Komarov, Member of the Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChelPipe) Board of Directors, Vladimir Markin, President of United Metallurgical Company (OMK), and Ivan Shabalov, Chairman of the Pipe Producers Association Coordinating Council.

It was noted that the long-standing and fruitful cooperation between Gazprom and Russian pipe producers allowed the manufactures to start the production of modern, high-quality products. With the current technological level, domestic pipe companies may compete successfully with their foreign counterparts for pipe supply contracts on Gazprom's major international projects. Indeed, if the share of domestically produced pipes in the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline was 25 per cent, it will total 60 per cent in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Russian companies will produce nearly 1.3 million tons of pipes for the project. This September, OMK and ChelPipe began shipping the products for the project.

The parties addressed the key areas of further cooperation, including the possibilities for the pipe companies to engage in promising gas transmission projects of Gazprom and to broaden the range of products made for the Company.