Page 11 - GLNG Week 40

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Gazprom advances LNG plans
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
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 Peters- burg 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. e new joint venture will develop technological, design and engineering documentation for gas processing and LNG production facilities, Gazprom said in a statement. It will also provide servicing during the commissioning and operation of LNG plants.
Gazprom has lagged behind its rival Novatek in developing LNG. But now the mega-pro- jects of building the Nord Stream 2 and Turkish Stream pipelines are coming to an end (both are due to be completed by the end of this year) the gas company is looking for new projects that will further develop Russia’s energy infrastructure. Portfolio investors complain that while Gazprom makes a lot of money, it always takes any free cash ow it has and ploughs it into the ground with new projects. “It will never stop building,” one investor complained to NewsBase.
Gazprom’s only export plant in operation 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 LNG terminal by the Baltic Sea. e oil major quit the project in April, a er Gazprom adjusted the scheme to include gas processing facilities as well and brought on board a domestic partner RusGazDobycha. Rus- GazDobycha is a liated with sanctioned Krem- lin stoligarch Arkady Rotenberg.
Shell’s exit meant Gazprom no longer had access to international liquefaction technolo- gies. e company chose Linde as a supplier for these technologies shortly a er 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. e 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.
ese 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.™
Novatek gears for Arctic development
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
NOVATEK, Russia’s leading independent gas producer, is gearing up to explore the Syadorsky licence area in the northern section of the Yamal Peninsula.
e company has been seeking a contractor to collect 390 square km of 3D seismic work at the block this upcoming winter season, its regional unit Yurkharovne egaz said in a tender notice. Bids will be accepted until midday Octo- ber 11, and results will be published no later than December 6. e selected contractor will then need to nish mobilising equipment, temporary living facilities and workers at the work site by December 20.
Novatek won subsoil rights to Syadorsky in September 2016, paying RUB404mn ($6.2mn) for a 25-year licence. e 2,100-square km tract north-west of the port of Sabetta is estimated to contain 24.6bn cubic metres in C1+category reserves. Recoverable resources are assessed at 62.7 bcm and 138mn barrels of liquids.
Under the terms of the licence, Novatek
is required to shoot seismic data and sink two exploration wells within ve years. e company was initially slow to move forward with apprais- ing the tract, instead concentrating on work on the neighbouring Gydan Peninsula. It is here where Novatek plans to commission its next LNG export terminal, Arctic LNG-2, in 2023.
Novatek, France’s Total and their Chinese and Japanese partners took a nal investment decision (FID) on Arctic LNG-2’s construction in September. At peak capacity, it will produce around 19.8mn tonnes per year (tpy) of lique ed gas exports.
Novatek has also held several more work ten- ders in the Arctic over the past month. Among these, on October 3 it invited bids for the drill- ing of 28 production wells at four clusters at the West-Seyakhinskoye eld and another 25 wells at the Yerkhnetiuteyskoye eld. Both are located on Yamal and were acquired by Novatek back in 2017. e pair could underpin an expansion in Yamal LNG’s existing capacity.™
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