The Gazprom-run Sakhalin liquefied natural gas export plant in the Russian Far East has started maintenance work and has shut down one of its processing Trains.
Sakhalin Energy, the plant operating company, had originally planned for work to be done on both Trains at the same time, but logistical difficulties occurred caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting safety measures.
The main buyers of Sakhalin cargoes are Japanese, South Korean and Chinese energy companies.
The shareholders in the plant are Gazprom with 50 percent plus one share, Royal Dutch Shell with 27.5 percent and Japanese companies Mitsui and Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. with 12.5 percent and 10 percent respectively.
Under its new plans some scheduled maintenance work has now been postponed until 2021.
“Due to current economic downturn and the pandemic challenge, we had to modify the initial turnaround scope,” said a Sakhalin Energy statement.
“To ensure the safety of our people and reliable production, the company has decided to follow the original timeline, but shut down only one Train at the LNG plant,” the company added.
LNG production at the two-Train Sakhalin plant has remained at just over 11 million tonnes per annum in recent years. The plant was Russia's first and came on stream in 2009.
The newer Yamal LNG plant started up in 2017 with output of 16.5 MTPA from three Trains and is operated by independent Russian natural gas company Novatek.
A long-planned expansion at the Sakhalin plant and the construction of a third liquefaction Train has so far failed to take place.
However, Gazprom notes that regular de-bottlenecking and equipment adjustments over the past 11 years has seen output raised to more than 11 MTPA from the nameplate capacity of 9.6 MTPA.
LNG cargoes produced and marketed at Sakhalin are supplied on a free-on-board basis and shipped by the company’s LNG carriers, “Grand Elena”, “Grand Aniva” and “Grand Mereya”.
Two other vessels, the “Amur River” and the “Ob River” carriers are used by the company under long-term charter agreements.
