YAKUTSK, January 17. /TASS/. The Sakhaneftegazsbyt Company, an oil and gas retailer in Yakutia, plans to develop a network of compressed natural gas fueling stations for agricultural companies, the regional government's press service said.

"[The company] plans to build a network of compressed natural gas fueling stations for the sustainable development of agricultural companies, having new facilities," the press service said.

In 2023, the company opened in Yakutsk the region's first certified center, where customers receive an entire cycle of services to readjust vehicles to compressed natural gas fuel. The region's Minister of Industry and Geology Maxim Tereshchenko said the center is a leader in developing compressed natural gas as fuel.

Sakhaneftegazsbyt is a key participant in the Northern Supplies program and it is Yakutia's only company that owns a big amount of tanks, more than 80% of them were made in the 1960s - 1980s. The state-run company has 19 oil depots. Every year, the company transports more than 200,000 tons of oil products, where 35,000 - to the Arctic districts.

The company has started the reconstruction and upgrade of the Belogorskaya, Zhiganskaya, Ust-Kuyginskaya and Khandygskaya oil depots. This project is the first example of public-private partnership cooperation in oil and gas facilities. The project uses the Far Eastern concession mechanism. "Engineering and survey works have been completed, and design and estimate aspects have been developed, and the state expertise procedure is underway. The plan is that by late 2026 the company will finalize the reconstruction and upgrade of all the four oil depots," the government said.