Page 102 - RusRPTFeb22

gas and c725bn bbl of oil and condensate. Although there are larger fields in the region, for most of the gas-producing world, 875bcm easily qualifies for the super-giant classification. Indeed, W-Malyginky’s prospective resources are roughly comparable to the nearby S-Tambeyskoye field, which underpins Novatek’s Yamal LNG project. Part of the long-term production and export plan. W-Malyginsky lies in close proximity to Gazprom’s 7.5tcm Tambey Cluster of fields on the Yamal Peninsula, which themselves are located just north of Novatek’s aforementioned S-Tambeyskoye field. This proximity to two key assets of Gazprom and Novatek explains why the bidding was reportedly strong for the asset. Gazprom has yet to begin development of the Tambey Cluster, but those resources figure strongly in the company’s long-term plans for maintaining production to feed its vast Russian pipeline system and exports to both Europe and, assuming the Power of Siberia-2 contract is signed, eventually to China.
Power of Siberia expansion under discussion as exports rise.
On 18 January a new daily record for exports to China was achieved. This is according to Gazprom’s announcement on its Telegram channel, though the company did not put a number to those delivery levels. Additionally, the company stated that expanding the contract to a plateau of 44bcmpa is “under discussion”.
Fully expected, but a small positive regardless. That Gazprom would be increasing exports to China and periodically setting new daily records is fully expected. After all, the Power of Siberia project only launched two years ago and is scheduled to ramp up to 38bcmpa in 2025e.
Additionally, negotiations to potentially expand the contract to 44bcmpa of plateau shipments have long been in progress and it is hard to tell from the company’s statement if those activities are at a higher than usual level.
Chinese exports indicate a promising future for Gazprom: Despite the limited information in this announcement, the Chinese contract is working well for Gazprom. The company reported earlier this winter that China is consistently nominating volumes above contract levels and the global gas shortage of the last year has increased the chances of signing new export contracts, either the expansion to 44bcm mentioned here, or the much more significant, 50bcmpa Power of Siberia-2 contract to ship West Siberian gas through Mongolia to China, which is also under discussion. We think the chances of at least one new gas export contract to China, large or small, is likely to be signed in the course of 2022.
102 RUSSIA Country Report February 2022 www.intellinews.com