Page 8 - FSUOGM Week 45 2022

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM

Gazprom finishes tests at

Kaliningrad FSRU

RUSSIA GAZPROM has completed tests at its 174,000- concerned that there could be an interruption in
cubic metre Marshal Vasilevskiy floating storage supplies amid political fallout from its invasion
Russia wants to and regasification unit (FSRU) off the coast of of Ukraine.
reduce reliance on Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave. Reuters reported on May 20 that Russian
pipeline flows through In a statement last week, the company said it President Vladimir Putin had initiated talks with
Lithuania. had completed scheduled maintenance checks Gazprom on using more LNG in Kaliningrad.
at the FSRU’s systems and equipment, as well as The Marshal Vasilevskiy FSRU began bringing
at its offshore receiving terminal. The unit has gas ashore in Kaliningrad in 2019, but the ves-
been delivering regasified LNG to the Kalinin- sel was subsequently chartered for service as an
grad grid for about two weeks now, according to LNG carrier.
Gazprom. The Pskov LNG carrier departed from the
The company noted that the FSRU and Portovaya plant with its first cargo, destined for
the LNG receiving terminal were “techni- Greece, on September 13.
cally complex objects” and required periodic Besides the FSRU, Kaliningrad’s gas supply
checks of their work in the climatic condi- security is also supported by an underground
tions of the Baltic Sea, partly during autumn storage facility there. Lithuania passed a ban on
and winter. The LNG that the FSRU receives Russian gas imports into the country in June,
comes from Gazprom’s Portovaya liquefaction but made an exception for transit volumes from
terminal in the Leningrad region. Commer- mainland Russia to Kaliningrad. Lithuania has
cial operations at that facility were launched also ceased importing Russian LNG at its Klai-
in September. peda terminal, and has stopped the import of
The Kaliningrad region, surrounded by Russian electricity.
Poland and Lithuania, currently receives gas Vilnius is yet to make any indication it will cut
via the 2.5bn cubic metre per year Minsk-Vil- on transit volumes to Kaliningrad, which serves
nius-Kaunas-Kaliningrad pipeline from Rus- as an important hub for Russia’s military infra-
sia via Belarus and Lithuania. But Moscow is structure. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 14•November•2022