Konstantin KHARISOV Director Regional Economics Department Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation The fuel and energy complex (FEC) and the formation of its infrastructure in the subjects of the Russian Federation play a major role in the social and economic development of the country. Gasification (i.e. the process of gas exploration, mining, transportation, and processing) of Russia's regions is an important element of such infrastructure. Substantial efforts in this area are contributed by the Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation in cooperation with the nonprofit Russian Gas Association. The priorities of the gasification process of the Russian regions are: * Generation of economic and, primarily, market signals stimulating a slowdown and a subsequent termination of the growth of the domestic gas demand. стр. 33 * Expansion of the scope of deregulated gas prices paralleled by a demonopolization of the domestic gas market. * Structural transformations which are to eliminate the conflict of interests resulting from the combination of the operation of the gas-transportation infrastructure and an involvement in the gas trade. A fundamentally new organization of access to gas-main and gas-distribution pipelines (a transition to the declarative system of access instead of the permissive one). * Progress of the domestic gas market, the stimulation of the development of gas deposits primarily by independent producers, who are to contribute most to meeting the domestic gas demand, which is not met by Gazprom, the basic gas company working for exports. Currently, the issue of the day is the advancement of gasification in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. In this respect, work is carried out in several directions: * Elaboration of stages of the East-Siberian and Far-Eastern gas resources development and the establishment of a general scheme for the region's gas transportation system. * Feasibility analysis for the trans ... Читать далее