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Soviet Union [USSR] Natural Gas
Natural gas replaced oil as the "growth fuel" of the Soviet
Union in the early 1980s. Gas is cheaper than oil to extract, and
Soviet gas deposits are estimated to be three times larger than oil
deposits. In 1983 an output of 536 billion cubic meters of gas put
the Soviet Union ahead of the United States in gas production for
the first time. In 1987 that figure rose to 727 billion cubic
meters. As with oil, the majority of natural gas production (85
percent in 1965) came from the European sector until the 1970s. In
that decade, the Volga-Ural and Central Asian fields dominated, but
by 1983 western Siberia provided nearly 50 percent of Soviet
natural gas. That area's Urengoy field was the largest in the
world; its reserves were estimated at 7.8 trillion cubic meters.
Because of transport distance and harsh climate, fuel
extraction in western Siberia is a monumental undertaking that
becomes more formidable as the industry moves northward. Although
high-power pumping stations are necessary to move gas over long
distances, in the late 1980s the Soviet machine-building industry
was not providing adequate equipment to maintain a steady flow
through some of the major lines. The chief development target after
Urengoy was the Yamburg field, directly to its north. Then, after
1990, major work was to begin in the Yamal Peninsula, for which
preparations began in the late 1980s. But cost and environmental
concerns delayed the Yamal project in 1989. Because growth targets
were based on the timely opening of large Yamal deposits, the delay
was potentially a very serious setback. The center of the older
Volga-Ural fields is Orenburg; other major gas fields are located
in the Uzbek, Turkmen, and Ukrainian republics.
Soviet industrial planners were replacing oil with gas widely
and successfully, and proportional investment in gas increased
drastically in the late 1970s and 1980s. In 1988 the shares of oil
and gas in the fuel balance were equal (at 39 percent) for the
first time. Gas was also a vital export product. The main
instrument of gas export policy was the pipeline connecting Urengoy
(and, projected for 1990, the Yamburg field) with Western Europe.
This line began pumping gas to four West European countries
(Austria, France, Italy, and the Federal Republic of Germany [West
Germany]) in 1984, despite strong opposition from the United
States. Delivery was scheduled to increase to a steady rate of 57
billion cubic meters per year by 1990. In 1988 total Soviet gas
exports reached 88 billion cubic meters, after adding Greece,
Turkey, and Switzerland to the customer list. Meanwhile, pipeline
reliability became a serious problem; hasty construction and poor
maintenance caused many accidents and breakdowns in the system.
Data as of May 1989
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