Page 19 - GLNG Week 12 2023

GLNG FORMER SOVIET UNION GLNG

Gazprom unveils another domestic

LNG project in Tatarstan

RUSSIA GAZPROM’S LNG technologies unit plans to the number of gas-fuelled vehicles on Tatarstan’s
build another small-scale LNG production plant roads has increased nearly 26 times to 13,000, it
Gazprom is looking in Tatarstan, as part of efforts to bolster gas con- was noted at a briefing of the republic’s cabinet of
at ways to bolster sumption by expanding the use of the fuel in the ministers last week.
domestic gas transport sector, the division’s chairman Alexei More than 72 mcm of natural gas was used
consumption following Kakhidze announced on March 14. as motor fuel in 2022 in Tatarstan, up 7% year
the loss of most of its The project, valued at roughly RUB28bn on year, and the local government’s target is to
European gas market ($360mn), aims to provide more LNG for sup- boost this by a further 18% in 2023. The region’s
share. ply to gas filling stations in Tatarstan, which are existing 44 CNG filling stations remain signifi-
currently underutilised. It will also be unique cantly underutilised, working at less than a fifth
as it will be able to provide bunkering services of their total capacity of 374 mcm of gas. Tatar-
to sea and river vessels, Kakhidze said. “Such a stan nevertheless plans to commission six more
possibility is unavailable today anywhere in the CNG stations this year along with seven cryo
region,” he noted. (LNG) stations.
There are currently two LNG production The development of the market for natural
facilities operating in Tatarstan with a com- gas as a vehicle fuel across Russia as in other
bined capacity of 25,000 tonnes per year. The countries has struggled with a chicken-and-
third will be built at the Sviyazhsk interregional egg problem, where supply and infrastructure
multimodal logistics centre, Kakhidze said. It is has been slow to expand because of a perceived
expected to start up in December 2024, initially lack of demand, while growth in demand has
producing 7 tonnes per hour of LNG. Its capac- been sluggish because of insufficient supply and
ity will subsequently be raised to 17 tph within a infrastructure.
year and nearly 27 tpy by the end of 2026. Tatarstan’s industry and trade minister Oleg
Gazprom has been pushing for natural gas Korobchenko called for a systematic approach to
to play a greater role in Russian transport for developing the sector.
years, although progress has been relatively slow. “Now it is impossible to simultaneously
However, the state-owned gas supplier has added build a huge number of stations and buy a large
incentive now to boost domestic gas use after amount of equipment for transitioning,” he
losing the overwhelming majority of its market said. “Everything should develop systematically
share in Europe over the past year as a result of according to a plan.”
political fallout from Moscow’s war in Ukraine. He also stressed the importance of neigh-
Gazprom has unveiled a number of other bouring regions also building out infrastruc-
small- and mid-scale LNG projects across Rus- ture to support the use of gas as a motor fuel in
sia in recent years to meet domestic demand, Tatarstan.
including a $3bn development in Eastern Siberia More demand can help the situation, and so
it announced earlier this month. Tatarstan authorities are also focused on intro-
Authorities in Tatarstan are also advocating ducing more gas-powered tractors in the agricul-
for more of the transport sector to switch to gas tural sector. Despite government subsidies, using
fuel. Over the last decade, under a programme gas as a fuel does not currently benefit farmers.
launched by the republic’s government and Gaz- “It is too early to talk about the economic
prom, the number of compressed natural gas effect until the whole agro-industrial complex
(CNG) filling stations in the region has grown switches to gas with a gas filling station network
4.5 times, while the volume of CNG sold for [nearby],” Korobchenko said. “Now we can only
motor fuel has increased 16 times. Meanwhile, talk about ecology." ™

Week 12 24•March•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P19