The Federation Council has developed a project on the introduction of alternative types of gas in the regions

The Federation Council submitted a draft law on the use of alternative types of gas for more efficient gasification of Russian regions for consideration by the government. The document was developed by Andrey Kutepov, head of the Federation Council committee on economic policy, informs TASS, which has a copy of the project.

As follows from the explanatory note, the project was developed in order to implement a list of presidential instructions “on the development of alternative environmentally friendly energy sources, an action plan for the implementation of a socially oriented and cost-effective gasification and gas supply system for the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.” In addition, the bill is aimed at expanding the domestic gas market, ensuring guaranteed supplies of liquefied hydrocarbon gases, LNG, and compressed natural gas to the domestic market to meet the household needs of the population.

According to Kutepov, the current legislation prescribes the procedure for the supply and use of “exclusively natural gas” for the purpose of gas supply to the population and enterprises, while the procedure for using alternative types of gas is not defined. In regions where there are problems with gas distribution networks, gasification using natural gas is not economically feasible, according to the Federation Council.

“This task can be solved more effectively with significant savings in the federal and local budgets by using alternative energy sources in the form of liquefied hydrocarbon gases, liquefied natural gas, compressed natural gas,” the explanatory note says.

In addition, it is proposed to introduce state regulation of fees for technological connection to a unified digital accounting system for gas cylinders, pressure vessels used to equip transport with gas fuel, as well as transportation, storage and delivery of gases to end consumers.

“Giving liquefied hydrocarbon gas, liquefied natural gas and compressed natural gas at the legislative level a status equal to natural pipeline gas will make it possible to include these types of gas in social aftergasification programs, ensure price parity for end consumers at the level of natural gas prices, and significantly increase gas consumption volumes on the domestic market,” Kutepov explained.

In Russia, the production of liquefied hydrocarbon gas is about 16 million tons, while only 3-4% is used for the needs of the population. In the future, the volume of its consumption for municipal purposes can be increased to 4-5 million tons, follows from the explanatory note.

Last February, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government and heads of regions by September 1, 2022 to study the introduction of alternative energy sources in a number of subjects of the country instead of natural gas. The government and senior officials of the constituent entities will submit “proposals on measures aimed at expanding the use in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation <...> alternative environmentally friendly energy sources (taking into account their economic efficiency) instead of natural gas transported using the Unified Gas Supply System,” the Kremlin press service noted. Prior to this, Putin recommended that the administrations of the constituent entities develop regional fuel and energy balances (TEBs) – a consumption structure by type of energy source that makes it possible to determine the need for each territory in gas.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that in seven subjects of the Russian Federation there is still no natural gas network. “Just the fuel and energy balances should give us an answer about the possibility of gasification of these regions or the use of alternative sources, such as increasing the share of renewable energy sources, small nuclear generation, the use of clean coal technologies, liquefied natural gas, or such an option as electrification boiler rooms,” he explained.