HUGE SOVIET GAS INDUSTRY SET FOR PARTICIPATION, MAJOR EXPANSION

Nikolai I. Belyi Gazprom Moscow An increase in natural gas production of more than 400% in the past 2 decades reflects the dynamic level of development of the gas industry in the Soviet Union. Even in 1990, a year of economic recession, gas production in the U.S.S.R. reached 815 billion cu m (28.8 tcf), an increase of 19 billion cu m over the previous year. Natural gas accounts for 43.5% of the total consumption by volume of organic fuels in the U.S.S.R., compared to 16% in Western Europe and