Page 11 - Euroil Week 40 2019
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EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil
Gazprom advances LNG plans
RUSSIA
Gazprom wants to catch up with private rival Novatek on the LNG front.
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 dur- ing 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 infrastruc- ture. 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.
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