Page 8 - FSUOGM Week 35 2022

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM

Gazprom burning $10mn of gas per day

at Nord Stream 1 flow point in Russia

RUSSIA RUSSIA is estimated to be burning some to shift, they can sometimes flare it rather than
GBP8.4mn ($9.9mn) per day of natural gas after simply shutting down facilities, as it may be tech-
Russia has cut gas flow curtailing supplies to Europe and having limited nically difficult and costly to start them up again
to Europe, but taking remaining space domestically to store it, the BBC afterwards.
assets offline may be has reported. Gazprom had intended to launch the 1.5mn
too costly. The flaring of gas at a new Gazprom-owned tonne per year (tpy) Portovaya LNG plant in
LNG plant in Portovaya compressor on Russia’s 2019, but the project has faced repeated delays
Baltic Sea was first reported by Finnish media since then, and Western sanctions and the with-
several weeks ago. Satellite monitoring of heat drawal of Western contractors, suppliers, tech-
levels at the plant indicates that it has been hap- nology providers and financiers from Russia’s
pening since July 11, and Rystad estimates it oil and gas sector in recent months is unlikely to
amounts to 4.34mn cubic metres of gas being have improved matters.
burnt each day. This is equal to 1.58 bcm of gas Rystad estimates that the amount of gas that is
each year. being flared would be enough to meet the needs
The LNG plant is located near to the Por- of 1.5mn European homes, at a time when the
tovaya compressor station that handles gas continent is scrambling to find new sources of
flow to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, supply amid extreme market tightness and soar-
which is currently operating at only a fifth of its ing prices on the spot market.
capacity. There is still no guidance on when the Gazprom estimated on August 26 that Rus-
pipeline might increase its flow, as Gazprom has sian gas storage facilities were now 91.4% full,
complained it is waiting for sufficient assurances which is an unusually high level of utilisation for
that equipment from the plant can be repaired the first time of year, with the heating season still
overseas without complications as a result of a far way off. In 2021, the company did not fill its
sanctions. stores in Russia until November 8. So far, Russian
Flaring is a typical practice at various oil and production has mostly been on an upward trend
gas infrastructure, but experts told the BBC this year in spite of significant cuts to European
that the scale of the flaring at Portovaya is very supply. But output could falter once storage sites
unusual. If operators have too much spare gas run out of space. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 35 02•September•2022