Page 7 - GLNG Week 02

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG
equipment and technology. But Novatek intends to rely on the domestic market to build another new plant, the 5mn tpy Obsk LNG, also due to start up in 2023. Obsk LNG is to showcase Novatek’s own liquefaction technology, known as Arctic Cascade. But the company intends to trial Arctic Cascade’s use on a smaller scale first, at a 0.9mn tpy fourth train at Yamal LNG, expected to start up shortly.
Novatek is also working with state nuclear company Atomenergomash to develop other equipment and technologies for LNG production.
What next?
Within the next five years Russia also hopes to be capable of building its own onshore and offshore seismic and exploration units, and also produc- tion platforms, as well as a modern fleet for oil and LNG transport, according to Manturov.
A centrepiece in efforts to develop domes- tic shipbuilding is the Zvezda shipyard in the Far East, a joint venture between state-owned Rosneft and Gazprombank. While Rosneft has ordered almost all its required vessels at Zvezda, Novatek claims it is unable to do the same.
The gas company ordered all the LNG car- riers (LNGCs) for Yamal LNG at foreign ship- yards. (See: MOL, COSCO name newest LNG carrier, page 10) While it has placed an order at Zvezda for 15 LNGCs to ship gas from Arctic LNG-2, Novatek head Leonid Mikhelson report- edly asked Russian President Vladimir Putin in a letter in November whether the 10 ships needed
for Obsk LNG could come from overseas.
“The construction of an additional fleet within this timeframe can only be carried out at foreign shipyards,” Mikhelson said in the letter, according to Kommersant, noting that the orders
would need to be made “in the near future.” Novatek would not be breaking any laws by ordering the ships abroad, and nor does it offi- cially need Putin’s permission to do so. But the company is aware that outsourcing to Asian shipyards runs counter to Russia’s import sub-
stitution drive.
Manturov also noted the Industry Min-
ister and state-owned Gazprom had secured RUB3.5bn ($57mn) in support for joint develop- ment of offshore production equipment over the past two years. The minister forecast that Russia would need to localise the production of 300 components of subsea systems by 2035 to satisfy the needs of Gazprom, Rosneft and leading pri- vate oil producer Lukoil.
Russia will need to exploit large offshore Arc- tic oil deposits to keep its production stable over the coming decades. But sanctions make this a difficult task.
So far the only project in production on the Arctic shelf is the Prirazlomnoye field operated by Gazprom Neft, and no new offshore fields are anticipated to come on stream until after 2030. Weak market conditions have of course held back offshore Arctic development, but Russia will also need to develop the technology and equipment barred under Western sanctions to realise new projects.™
A centrepiece in efforts to develop domestic shipbuilding is the Zvezda shipyard in the Far East.
A key focus for Russia will be the local production of equipment for mid and large-sized LNG production trains.
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