Background

The construction of the Amur GPP began in October 2015. Gazprom Pererabotka Blagoveshchensk (part of the Gazprom Group) is the investor, customer, and operator for the Amur GPP. Construction management is carried out by NIPIGAZ (part of the SIBUR Group). The core process equipment for cryogenic gas separation is provided by Germany’s Linde. Products of Russian machine-building enterprises are also used at the GPP. In St. Petersburg, the production of spiral heat exchangers was launched for the first time in Russia so as to provide for heat recovery of nitrogen–helium mixture during the helium production process at the Amur GPP.

Some 1,000 equipment suppliers and over 500 contracting organizations were engaged in the project. About 35,000 construction workers are currently at the Amur GPP’s construction site. The number of permanent jobs at the GPP will total around 3,000.

In December 2019, the project financing deal for the overall amount of EUR 11.4 billion was completed for the Amur GPP construction project. The funds are being provided by 22 banks from Europe, Asia, and Russia (Gazprombank, SberBank, VTB Bank, Otkritie Bank, and VEB.RF). The deal was unprecedented in Gazprom’s history and became one of the largest transactions of this kind in Europe over the last few years.

Extensive infrastructure was created for the construction of the Amur GPP: 27 kilometers of access roads, a wharf of the Zeya River, some 40 kilometers of railway tracks, and three camps for shift workers, which are also used in associated investment projects.

Process steam and electric power are generated by the Svobodny Thermal Power Plant, which was brought into operation by Gazprom in the spring of 2021.

The region’s social infrastructure is evolving as well. A residential microdistrict for the workers of the Amur GPP is being built in the town of Svobodny. The microdistrict has apartment houses, an outpatient clinic, a kindergarten, a school, a sports center, a cultural center with a concert hall, and a children’s art center.

Chayandinskoye is one of the largest fields in eastern Russia and the basis for the Yakutia gas production center. The field is unique in terms of its recoverable gas reserves (1.2 trillion cubic meters). It has the annual design output of 25 billion cubic meters of gas. The field came onstream in 2019.

The Kovyktinskoye field, which has the largest gas reserves in eastern Russia, is the basis for the Irkutsk gas production center. The field is unique in terms of its recoverable gas reserves (1.8 trillion cubic meters). It has the annual design output of 27 billion cubic meters of gas. Work is underway to prepare the field for full-scale production.

The two fields form the resource base for the Power of Siberia gas pipeline, which started conveying gas from Chayandinskoye in 2019. A pipeline section from Chayandinskoye to Kovyktinskoye is currently under construction.