Page 10 - FSUOGM Week 33 2021

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM
Gazprom provides gas export insights
RUSSIA
RUSSIA’S state-owned Gazprom has provided insights into both its first-half natural gas exports as well as shifting consumption patterns that have placed an “increased load” on its transport system.
The Russian gas giant increased exports to Western Europe by 28.52% year on year to 77.24bn cubic metres, Tass reported on August 13, citing a company statement. The company said its exports to Germany had climbed by 43.42% to 28.87 bcm, Austria’s deliveries had slipped 18.2% to 5.4 bcm, Italy had received 14.09% more gas at 11.39 bcm and exports to France had climbed 15% to 6.58 bcm.
Shipments to Turkey, meanwhile, increased more than threefold to 14.62 bcm, while deliver- ies to Central Europe were roughly flat at 17.79 bcm. Gazprom said China’s imports via the Power of Siberia pipeline almost tripled to 4.62 bcm during the January-June period.
The uptick in demand has continued this month, with Gazprom noting this week that supplies to domestic buyers as well as to those in Europe and Turkey excluding former Soviet Union countries had reached a “new peak”. This surge in demand, S&P Global Platts quoted the company as saying on August 16, was compara- ble to demand during winter months.
The company added that between longer lasting winters in both Russia and Europe – with March demand no longer reflecting springtime consumption – and higher demand in August, there was “an increased load on the gas supply system during the traditional season of sched- uled preventive maintenance and preparation for the autumn-winter period, which cannot be paused.”
Gazprom added that its priority during the summer months had to lie in filling underground
gas storages in order to be able to meet demand during the longer winters. However, the com- pany’s ability to do just that has been called into question of late.
Bloomberg reported on August 11 that Gaz- prom’s move to withdraw gas from some Euro- pean storages in the face of higher demand had derailed the company’s efforts to rebuild its win- ter stockpile.
The stored gas was being used to compensate for lower supplies from the Yamal-Europe pipe- line, the newswire quoted an unnamed source as saying. One of Gazprom’s processing plants in the Yamal-Nenetsk region in West Siberia was hit by fire on August 5, halting supplies to the pipeline in the process.
Inventories at the Rehden and Katharina storages in Germany had both been drawn down significantly, Bloomberg noted, citing data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.™
Sakhalin-2 restarts LNG production
RUSSIA
RUSSIAN liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Sakhalin Energy has resumed production from the first train of its 11.49mn tonne per year Sakhalin-2 project after completing a major maintenance programme.
Sakhalin Energy said on August 18 that while train one had been restarted, post-shutdown commissioning continued at the project’s sec- ond train. It is not immediately clear when oper- ations will resume.
The turnaround campaign encompassed the Lunskoye-A offshore platform, the onshore processing facility (OPF), the OPF compression construction site, the second booster station as well as the Prigorodnoye production complex.
Sakhalin Energy announced on July 12 that it had launched a major overhaul of the facility, leading to the complete and simultaneous shut- down of all the project’s gas production assets.
Commenting on some of the operation’s technical challenges, deputy production direc- tor Alexander Singurov said this week that the company had replaced two out of the four load- ing arms at the LNG jetty, each of which weigh 77 tonnes.
Singurov added: “This complex operation was carried out using Pijlgracht, a specialised vessel equipped with two main cranes with a lifting capacity of up to 700 tonnes each.”
Sakhalin Energy’s head of engineering and
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 33 18•August•2021