Russian Deputy Environment Minister Inspects Gas Network in Chita

A delegation from the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, led by Deputy Minister Maxim Korolkov, arrived in Chita. They discussed floods and the city«s gasification with regional Governor Alexander Osipov; the project was originally scheduled for completion by the end of 2024. Korolkov expressed satisfaction with the already laid networks and thanked Osipov for the region taking on gasification efforts independently. This was reported in the governor»s Telegram channel on January 21.

The channel published a video of the meeting between Osipov and Korolkov. The deputy minister stated that thanks to the work of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the region now copes much better with floods: despite higher water levels than in 2018, in 2025 only several dozen dacha houses were affected, instead of tens of thousands of residents and mass housing destruction. This was aided by completed work on protective structures, dams, embankments, and river channel regulation.

After this, the conversation turned to gasification.

“We are doing a lot of work on the gasification of Chita,” Osipov said in the video.

Then, the video edit cuts directly to the response from the Russian deputy environment minister, overlooking the governor«s remarks. Maxim Korolkov noted that the actions of concessionaires have led to delays in gasification, and as he himself saw, the already laid network is intact.

“Yes, Alexander Mikhailovich, as you rightly noted, the gasification project for Chita is unique — for the first time in Russia, a regional center of this scale is being converted to LNG. Yes, unfortunately, the actions of concessionaires have led to the delay of this project. Thank you for deciding to bring this to the regional level and, essentially, solve this task with the region«s own efforts. Today, my colleagues and I managed to inspect the network and confirmed that the system is intact. We discussed precisely the issue of transferring those sections for which documentation is ready to the new concessionaire. Our task is to ramp up this work so that this year, essentially, the main part of the work is completed,” he replied.

Chita was planned to be gasified under the “Clean Air” program. The gasification deadlines have been postponed three times. Initially, under a concession agreement with the East Arctic Oil and Gas Corporation (VANK), it was planned to gasify over 13,100 private homes in Chita by the end of 2024. Later, the deadlines were shifted to September 2025, then to December 31, 2025. As reported by the city administration, this is due to the dishonesty in fulfilling obligations by the concessionaire, former founder of LLC Auroragaz Stanislav Neverov. The last postponement set a new date — December 31, 2027.

In October 2024, following a prosecutor«s inspection, criminal cases were initiated for abuse of power, negligence, and fraud in the gasification of Chita. And investigators initiated criminal cases over thefts. Four officials from the concessionaire and contractors were detained, as well as three veterans of the Special Military Operation from PMC Wagner, who, as reported, assisted in the kidnapping of Denis Merzlyakov, head of the gas projects department at LLC East Arctic Oil and Gas Corporation, whom his colleagues suspected of fraud. In total, 10 people are involved in the kidnapping case.

Current managers of Auroragaz reported that, according to the company«s own security service, during the gasification of Chita by previous owners, between 1.5 and 1.7 billion rubles (approximately $15-17 million at current rates) were stolen.

Earlier it became known that the company Auroragaz, which under the concession agreement was engaged in gasifying Chita and abandoned work, without completing the gas supply networks or starting construction of the gas reception, storage, and distribution system (GSRDS), received 5.8 billion rubles (approximately $58 million at current rates) from the federal budget for the work. The Central District Court of Chita partially satisfied the lawsuit by the city administration against Auroragaz, requiring the company to restore improvements on eight streets where work was conducted. Meanwhile, Auroragaz filed a complaint with the regional prosecutor«s office over the termination of the concession — the company believes it was done illegally.

Now the new concessionaire of the project — LLC Regional Energy Company of Zabaykalsky Krai — is conducting an audit of completed work. Based on the audit results, roadmaps for further project implementation will be prepared.

The Ministry of Natural Resources by December 1 expected an updated financial and economic justification for the gasification from Zabaykalsky Krai.