Page 8 - FSUOGM Week 40 2019

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM
Gazprom advances LNG plans
RUSSIA
Gazprom is planning one 13mn tpy liquefaction plant on the Baltic Sea and three more small-tonnage facilities for bunkering.
RUSSIA’S Gazprom has struck a deal with Ger- many’s Linde on setting up a joint venture to design facilities for the processing and liquefac- tion of natural gas.
The agreement, reached at the St Petersburg International Gas Forum on October 3, should help Gazprom obtain the technology it needs for a gas processing and LNG complex it plans to build on the Baltic Sea. The new joint venture will develop technological, design and engineer- ing documentation for gas processing and LNG production facilities, Gazprom said in a state- ment. It will also provide servicing during the commissioning and operation of LNG plants.
Gazprom has lagged behind its rival Novatek in developing LNG. Its only export plant in oper- ation is a 10-11mn tonne per year facility on Sakhalin Island, where it is partnered with Royal Dutch Shell. Gazprom had also been working with Shell on a plan to build another 13mn tpy LNG terminal by the Baltic Sea. The oil major quit the project in April, after Gazprom adjusted the scheme to include gas processing facilities as well and brought on board a domestic partner
RusGazDobycha. RusGazDobycha is affiliated with sanctioned Kremlin ally Arkady Rotenberg. Shell’s exit meant Gazprom no longer had access to international liquefaction technolo- gies. The company chose Linde as a supplier for these technologies shortly after Shell’s decision,
sources told Reuters back in April.
Gazprom also wants to build a trio of small-
er-scale LNG plants next to the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and on the coast of the Russian Far East. The company started building the 1.5mn tpy Portovaya plan in the Leningrad region in 2016 and aims to launch production in 2020, it said in a presentation at the St Petersburg Inter- national Gas Forum on October 2.
Gazprom has completed a feasibility study on another 1.5mn tpy terminal in Vladivostok, and aims to take a decision on a 0.5-1.5mn tpy facility on the Black Sea shore “hopefully soon”, according to the presentation.
These plants will primarily serve as stations for LNG bunkering – a sector that is expanding rapidly as a result of new IMO sulphur emissions limits due to come into force next year.™
Russia considers alternative Nord Stream 2 routes
RUSSIA
Selecting alternative routes could delay the project by up to a year.
RUSSIA is considering alternative routes for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany via the Baltic Sea, as there is still no solution in sight for the permit stand-off with Denmark, Kom- mersant daily reported on October 3 citing the President Vladimir Putin, the Minister of Energy Alexander Novak and the Chairman of Gaz- prom’s BoD Viktor Zubkov.|
As reported by bne IntelliNews, the conten- tious pipeline of Russian gas giant Gazprom risks an eight-month delay as the pipe-laying vessels approach Danish territorial waters, the only ter- ritory for which the construction permit has not been secured.
Possible routes reportedly include the Swed- ish or Polish zones, with the former under con- sideration, according to Kommersant.
The Swedish alternative would not only lead to higher costs, but would delay the project’s delivery by a year, as permission from Sweden and Germany would be necessary, according to sources of the daily.
The sources also claimed that Gazprom is still focusing its efforts on acquiring Denmark’s
permission. In a separate report Reuters cited the head of Austrian OMV Rainer Seele who believes that the consortium financed by OMV, Shell, Uniper, and Wintershall has good chances securing the permission in Denmark.
“While an alternative route would ensure the project’s completion, there is almost no chance that Nord Stream-2 would be delivered on time, implying higher transportation costs in 2020 versus the base case scenario,” BCS Global Mar- kets commented on October 3.™
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Week 40 09•October•2019