Page 114 - RusRPTFeb24

Proponents within the oil industry highlight natural gas's cleaner burn compared to coal, advocating for continued exports. Conversely, environmentalists have expressed concerns that increased LNG supplies could deter investment in sustainable, zero-emission energy alternatives. Methane leakages are another issue that plagues the young LNG sector.
Despite intentions to reduce fossil fuel reliance, industry projections indicate that gas demand in Europe will at least double in the coming years, undermining the EU’s pledge to wean itself entirely off gas by 2050. The EU's interest extends to boosting domestic gas production, as illustrated by Germany's $8.3bn investment in new gas power plants, marking a transition from nuclear and coal energy towards hydrogen.
Despite being technically able to produce first LNG, the first train of Arctic LNG 2 is still not yet ready to start full commercial operations and launch first exports, Kpler lead analyst Viktor Katona said. However, once the first train is up and running, “Russia’s LNG exports will move into the next gear, and the country may finish this year with around 35 million to 36 million tonnes” of LNG shipped to international markets, Katona said. In total, Russia exported about 32.3 million tonnes of LNG in 2023 against 32.9 million tonnes in 2022,
The decline was mostly offset by the Portovaya LNG facility on the Baltic Sea that until recently was fully owned by Gazprom. Portovaya LNG came into operation in September 2022 and almost reached its nameplate capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of LNG in 2023, with exports mostly headed to European ports.
As a result, Russian LNG exports to EU countries reached a new high of 15.55 million tonnes last year, up from 15.34 million tonnes in 2022, Katona said.
Spain became the largest importer of Russian LNG in Europe, at over 5 million tonnes, and the third-largest buyer of Russian LNG globally, according to the analyst.
Belgium — typically not an end Russian gas consumer, but where Novatek has a long-term contract to use transshipment and regasification facilities in Zeebrugge — imported just over 4.9 million tonnes of Russian LNG that was either reloaded onto other carriers or entered the European gas network, according to Kpler’s calculations.
France was Europe's third-largest importer, taking about 3.6 million tonnes of Russian LNG.
Russian LNG exports to China ended the last year at over 6.8 million tonnes, making it Russia's largest gas customer, while shipments to India were a
114 RUSSIA Country Report February 2024 www.intellinews.com