Environmental Impact Prevention
In accordance with Russian laws, Gazprom Group entities conduct environmental impact assessments (EIA) of planned business activities at all stages of an investment project’s life cycle: from planning to commissioning.
PJSC Gazprom proactively conducts expert review of investment projects before they are submitted for state expert review and state environmental expert review.
As part of the expert review, PJSC Gazprom conducts a comprehensive assessment, in particular, to ensure that documentation complies with Russian laws, international standards and rules, and PJSC Gazprom’s regulations and guidelines in environmental protection and energy efficiency.
To improve the quality of documentation regarding the adoption of modern environmental protection and energy-efficient solutions, all PJSC Gazprom’s investment projects are subject to expert review in the field of environmental protection and energy saving.
For more details on major investment projects with design documentation reviewed, see the Appendix.
As part of the environmental impact assessment of PJSC Gazprom’s investment projects, public discussions are regularly held. These include informing the public, opening community liaison offices, granting public access to documentation, and they aim to identify public opinion regarding the planned activities and incorporate feedback into the EIA process.
For more details on the list of projects with public discussions of planned business and other activities held to consider public interests, see the Appendix.
The Company has implemented an Engineering Data Management System (EDMS) as part of PJSC Gazprom’s unified digital platform for investment project management. The EDMS serves as a unified data environment for automated, effective exchange and expert review of design documents among PJSC Gazprom, its subsidiaries, and external counterparties. This solution enables the management of design processes and design documentation at all stages of a capital construction project’s life cycle from pre-investment studies to reconstruction or decommissioning.
The EDMS improves the quality and accessibility of design and technical documents, accelerates information exchange with design and contracting companies, and optimizes the processes for preparing, reviewing, and approving design documents for PJSC Gazprom facilities. It also enables the use of digital information modeling tools.
Environmental Control and Monitoring
At the corporate level, PJSC Gazprom has an Environmental Inspectorate in place. In addition to monitoring compliance by subsidiaries and contractors with environmental laws, corporate standards, and rules relating to environmental protection and energy saving, it conducts internal EMS audits of PJSC Gazprom’s subsidiaries.
The Environmental Inspectorate’s activities are aimed at improving environmental protection and ensuring environmental safety at Gazprom Group facilities.
Priority measures include:
- enhancing the efficiency of the corporate environmental control system;
- organizing and conducting internal EMS audits combined with verifying compliance with environmental laws by subsidiaries and entities within the scope and boundaries of PJSC Gazprom’s EMS;
- other control and supervisory measures to ensure compliance with laws, corporate standards, and rules relating to environmental protection and environmental safety at Gazprom Group facilities;
- organizing control over compliance with requirements during operational environmental (including eco-analytical) monitoring at PJSC Gazprom’s subsidiaries;
- analyzing the practice of interactions between PJSC Gazprom’s subsidiaries and state control (supervision) bodies to eliminate and prevent violations of environmental laws;
- monitoring compliance with environmental design solutions during the construction and reconstruction of Unified Gas Supply System (UGSS) facilities.
Gazprom’s Operational Environmental Monitoring (OEM) system includes fixed-site and mobile environmental laboratories, meteorological and hydrological stations, automated air pollutant emission monitoring stations, and observation wells. This enables monitoring of:
- air pollutant emissions from organized sources;
- atmospheric air quality in localities and at the boundaries of sanitary protection zones around production facilities;
- noise impact;
- radiation background;
- surface and groundwater quality, bed sediments;
- water sources for utility and drinking purposes;
- state of the geological environment, soil and snow cover;
- waste and effluents.
The system includes monitoring of environmental parameters, analysis of results, and development of measures aimed at minimizing negative environmental impact.
The Company systematically monitors methane emissions and controls gas leaks at the corporate level – a responsibility of PJSC Gazprom’s Environmental Inspectorate.
24/7 monitoring systems are operated to detect methane in ambient air and provide automatic alarms for excess concentration; remote laser methane detectors are also used. Methane detection at gas industry facilities is also handled using detectors installed on helicopters or UAVs. The Company takes steps to introduce modern methods for satellite-based monitoring of GHG emissions, particularly methane.
The Company is developing services relying on aerospace data and artificial intelligence, which expands capabilities for regular environmental monitoring in the Russian Far North regions. The use of neural networks will accelerate the analysis of aerospace imagery, enhance the detail of digital cartographic models, and introduce new functions.
The OEM system enables Gazprom to promptly receive reliable information on the state of environmental parameters in the areas affected by the Company’s production facilities, timely analyze the environmental conditions when conducting business operations, plan environmental protection measures, monitor their implementation and make informed management decisions in this area.
In exercising OEM at production facilities, Gazprom makes active use of mobile environmental laboratories that have cutting-edge analytical equipment to monitor atmospheric air, physical environmental factors, meteorological parameters, as well as industrial emissions from various sources. The laboratories are equipped with a UAV operator workstation, enabling the operator to work in open spaces without leaving the laboratory, using virtual reality glasses and a high-resolution camera installed on the UAV. Photos and videos captured during UAV-assisted visual inspections have significantly improved control effectiveness, reduced inspection time, and decreased vehicle mileage – an especially important benefit in hard-to-reach areas.
Gazprom Dobycha Nadym regularly conducts online air monitoring at the Bovanenkovskoye field by operating an automated environmental monitoring station. The station is equipped with measurement equipment comprising two sets of devices with different functions. The first set is a gas analysis module that measures mass concentrations of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, methane, total hydrocarbons, and total hydrocarbons excluding methane. The second set is a meteorological module that records wind speed and direction, air temperature and relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, and liquid precipitation. Looking ahead, Gazprom Dobycha Nadym’s stations can be integrated into the observation network of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring.
Integration of environmental monitoring systems
Some of the Gazprom Group’s OEM systems are integrated with regional environmental monitoring systems.
Regular interaction is maintained with heads of municipal administrations and residents of localities within the impact zone of production facilities in the following areas:
- informing the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment, and Property Relations of the Orenburg Region, territorial bodies of Rosprirodnadzor, and heads of municipal administrations of localities about planned works during scheduled maintenance at Gazprom Dobycha Orenburg facilities;
- monthly sending of information letters to the administrations of 24 localities and the heads of the Orenburgsky and Perevolotsky districts of the Orenburg Region regarding air pollutant concentrations based on data from the automated stations;
- interacting with heads of municipal administrations and authorized representatives of local residents investigating reports and complaints about atmospheric pollution.
For over 20 years, Gazprom Dobycha Orenburg has successfully operated an OEM system featuring automated gas contamination monitoring stations installed across 24 localities within the impact zone of its production facilities. Based on monitoring data and current meteorological conditions, the Company effectively regulates activities that could cause emission spikes – specifically prohibiting such operations when wind patterns would carry emissions toward populated areas.
Gazprom Neft’s Omsk Oil Refinery has successfully developed and tested advanced automated ambient air monitoring technologies. As a result of an agreement between Gazprom Neft, Rosprirodnadzor, and the Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, the Omsk Oil Refinery became the primary site for deploying this innovative technology. The jointly developed automated monitoring tools laid the foundation for shaping new industry standards and establishing unified regulatory guidelines.
Amur GPP’s comprehensive industrial environmental monitoring system utilizes over 40 measurement instruments to track more than 30 environmental parameters at the plant site and in surrounding areas. The system monitors air pollutant concentrations, meteorological conditions, dust and noise levels, and radiological pollution, while also analyzing treated wastewater quality through measurements of nitrates, petroleum products, turbidity, conductivity, dissolved oxygen content, and pH levels. All data is transmitted to the plant’s central environmental monitoring server, enabling continuous real-time tracking and proactive prevention of negative environmental impacts associated with production processes.
State Environmental Supervision
In 2024, state supervisory bodies conducted 942 compliance inspections for environmental protection and natural resource management at Gazprom Group facilities, revealing 1,006 violations, whereas 523 inspections identified no breaches of environmental requirements.
Out of the 1,006 breaches identified in 2024, 63 breaches (6.3%) were overturned by courts of law or otherwise, 77 (7.7%) are being contested, 744 (74%) were remedied in due time, and the period for remedying 58 did not expire in the reporting year. In total, 904 violations were rectified during the year, including 160 violations identified by previous years’ inspections.
For more details on environmental penalties and their payment breakdown, see the Appendix.