Page 10 - FSUOGM Week 42 2019

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM
Gazprom starts filling TurkStream with gas
TURKEY
TurkStream is still on track for launch this year.
RUSSIA began filling the first of the TurkStream gas pipeline’s two strings with gas on October 18, in preparation for its operational launch.
“This is the final step in the commissioning of the pipeline,” project operator South Stream Transport, a subsidiary of Gazprom, said in a statement.
TurkStream runs from Russia for 930km along the bed of the Black Sea, terminating in Turkey’s western Thrace region. Its first string will supply up to 15.75bn cubic metres of gas per year to Turkish consumers, while its second will run further, passing through Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.
Gazprom broke ground on the project in May 2017, after hiring Swiss-based Allseas to lay the pipe, and work on both strings’ off- shore sections was completed in November last year.
South Stream transport confirmed that the first string was still due on stream by the end of this year, without disclosing a firm date. Con- struction of its receiving terminal in Turkey is in its “final stages”, and Turkish gas transmission
operator Botas is building an onshore pipeline connecting the string with the country’s national network, it said.
A joint venture between Botas and Gazprom is also working on another onshore line to carry gas from the second string to the Turkish border with Bulgaria. The string’s launch is anticipated in 2020 at the earliest.
Gazprom is also currently filling its 38 bcm per year Power of Siberia pipeline to China with gas. The pipeline is due to start up on December 1, although it is not expected to operate at full capacity for several years.
Meanwhile, Gazprom’s third major pipeline project, Nord Stream 2, is running on schedule and was 83% complete as of early October. But delays seem likely ahead, as Gazprom is still waiting for approval from Denmark to run the pipeline through its waters. The company is considering rerouting Nord Stream 2 to bypass Danish territory, but doing so means that the 55 bcm per year pipeline will fail to start up by the end of this year as planned, and incur hundreds of dollars in extra costs. ™
Tankers for Novatek’s LNG projects shielded from sanctions
RUSSIA
US sanctions had been imposed on one of Lukoil’s Chinese partners.
THE owner of four tankers servicing the liq- uefied natural gas (LNG) Yamal of Russian gas major Novatek is exempt from the latest round of the US sanctions, RBC business daily reported on October 22.
As reported by bne IntelliNews, Novatek feared setbacks caused by the US sanctions imposed on Chinese shipping company Cosco. Novatek’s first LNG plant Yamal risks losing third of its LNG tanker fleet, as six Arc7 vessels are owned by Cosco and Canadian Teekay.
Reportedly TC LNG Shipping controlled by Cosco and Teekay and operating four tank- ers has notified Novatek that it is exempt from sanctions.
Previously the head of Novatek and Russia’s richest person according to Forbes, Leonid Mik- helson, dismissed the sanction risks and said that his company counts on having all of the Chinese tankers delivered by year-end.
Novatek also risked losing another five Arc7 tankers that are to be delivered by Dynagas.
Cosco controls 25.5% in the company, which should exempt it from sanctions, but special cases might apply. Another three tankers were ordered from 50/50 joint venture of Japanese MOL and Shanghai LNG, another Cosco affiliate.
Resolving the logistics issues of LNG delivery is seen as crucial for Novatek to catch up with adding LNG output. Analysts told Vedomosti daily previously that about 30 tankers would be enough to handle all the LNG, which will be produced at Novatek’s operating Yamal LNG and planned Arctic LNG-2.™
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Week 42 23•October•2019