Page 167 - RusRPTApr23

9.1.1d LNG news
The European Commission has urged EU countries and companies not to enter into new supply contracts for Russian LNG, in order to further reduce the bloc’s use of the latter’s LNG. While Russian pipeline gas to Europe has fallen dramatically over the past year and is now only at 10-15% of the pre-war level, Russian LNG imports into the EU soared 31% in 2022 to 19.2bn cubic metres. “We can and should get rid of Russian gas completely as soon as possible, still keeping in mind our security of supply,” EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson told EU lawmakers on March 8. “I encourage all member states and all companies to stop buying Russian LNG, and not to sign any new gas contracts with Russia once the existing contracts have expired.”
Russia’s Gazprom plans to build a $3bn medium-sized LNG plant in East Siberia to spur consumption of natural gas in the region. The gas giant’s Gazprom Nedra exploration subsidiary on March 2 signed a cooperation agreement with the Krasnoyarsk region administration to develop several upstream blocks and build an LNG plant.
The plant is expected to produce 2mn tonnes per year of LNG, business daily Vedomosti reported, citing a Gazprom presentation from an economic forum held in Krasnoyarsk. With that capacity, the proposed plant will be Russia’s largest LNG plant focused on domestic sales. Russian LNG is now almost entirely exported, while only mini plants sell part of their product at home, as well as Gazprom’s recently launched 1.5mn ton/yr Portovaya LNG facility in northwestern Russia, which also supplies small volumes to domestic consumers.
The proposed LNG plant will be located near the village of Taezhnyi, some 500 kilometres northeast of the city of Krasnoyarsk and the potential route of Gazprom’s planned Power of Siberia 2 gas export pipeline to China. Gazprom has yet to agree on a 50bn cubic metre per year gas supply contract with China to proceed with Power of Siberia 2 construction. But if the pipeline is built, it will run just 50 km away from Krasnoyarsk and give access to pipeline gas for two thirds of the region’s population, the region’s Governor Alexander Uss told the Krasnoyarsk forum.
The LNG plant will be fed from the Abakansky, Ibinsky and Ilbokichsky upstream blocks of Gazprom, harbouring a combined 130 Bcm of natural gas. Gazprom plans to reach the production plateau of 3.9 Bcm/yr at the three fields in 2025, according to the presentation cited by Vedomosti. Gazprom plans to invest 222bn rubles ($2.9bn), including 98.7bn rubles in the LNG facility construction, 82.9bn rubles in upstream development and 40.4bn rubles in transportation infrastructure.
The volume of the global market for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2023 will grow by 4.3% to a level of about 550bn cubic metres. This is stated
167 RUSSIA Country Report Russia April 2023 www.intellinews.com