LNG

Russian natural gas company Gazprom said flows to China on the “Power of Siberia” pipeline have resumed after scheduled maintenance, offsetting the need for higher LNG imports during the Northern Hemisphere summer season.

Oct 20 (LNGJ) – Russia’s Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp. said they signed an additional agreement for China to receive more pipeline natural gas from Siberia from the end of 2023. Gazprom Chief Executive Alexey Miller and CNPC Chairman Dai Houliang signed the deal after a meeting in Beijing. 

   “During the meeting Gazprom and CNPC signed an additional agreement to the gas sales contract on the eastern route for an extra volume of supplies of Russian gas to China by the end of 2023,” said a statement that gave no details of volumes. Gazprom also said it had made more progress in the design works on the Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline that will cross Mongolian territory into China and that would become the continuation of the “Power of Siberia II” gas pipeline. 

China National Petroleum Corp. Chairman Dai Houliang and Gazprom's Chief Executive Alexey Miller have held a video conference as part of the Russian Eastern Economic Forum 2022 in Vladivostok and signed an agreement related to natural gas supplies as a plan to put a pipeline through Mongolia to China advanced.

Gazprom, the supplier of pipeline natural gas to customers from Western Europe to China as well as the Russian Federation and former Soviet states, said record gross earnings were forecast for 2021 and it was also increasing funds for managing risk in the volatile market.

Nord Stream AG, the Swiss-based owner of the Nord Stream I pipeline flowing to the European Union in competition to LNG markets, said 10 days of maintenance had been successfully completed on its twin lines as Gazprom spoke out in support of Nord Stream II, set to be completed by the end of August.

Russian natural gas company Gazprom and the German engineering and industrial gases company Linde have signed accords on the LNG and processing project at Ust-Luga west of St. Petersburg and on the Amur Gas Processing Plant in the Russian Far East.

The signings came at a meeting in St. Petersburg between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Wolfgang Reitzle, Board Chairman at Linde, as well as other executives from both companies.

The meeting covered several issues, including the project for the creation of the Gas Processing Complex in Ust-Luga.

Kirill Seleznev, Director General of RusKhimAlyans, and Juergen Nowicki, Chief Executive of Linde Engineering, signed an agreement of intent in the presence of Miller and Reitzle.

The document outlines the main terms and conditions of a prospective Engineering, Procurement and Site Services (EPSS) contract for Linde.

Gazprom and RusGazDobycha, a special purposes company securing gas supplies for Russia’s chemicals industry, are expecting the various facilities at Ust-Luga to require the processing of 45 billion cubic metres of natural gas per annum.

RusKhimAlyans, a 50-50 joint venture between Gazprom and RusGazDobycha, have already signed 20-year commercial contracts for supplies of feed gas and sales gas as well as ethane fraction for chemicals.

Gazprom and RusGazDobycha are implementing the venture and RusKhimAlyans will be the operator. It is the anchor project of the major gas processing and chemical cluster that is being established in the region.

“The complex will have the largest capacity in Russia in terms of gas processing and will be the largest in northwest Europe in terms of LNG production at 13 million tonnes per annum,” said Gazprom.

“In addition to LNG, its commercial products will include ethane fraction, liquefied petroleum gases and pentane-hexane fraction,” it added.

The parties also reviewed current issues of cooperation, including Gazprom’s Amur Gas Processing Plant (GPP) construction.

“Linde’s equipment for cryogenic gas separation and for helium production is employed at the enterprise,” said Gazprom.

“The GPP’s first two production Trains are being prepared for commissioning at the moment,” the Russian company added.

Russian natural gas giant Gazprom has set up a subsidiary to develop a pipeline across the land-locked Asian country of Mongolia as Russia’s second “Power of Siberia” supply line to China in competition to LNG and with capacity of one-third more than the existing pipeline.

The Balkan state and European Union member Croatia duly became the latest LNG importing nation at the start of January with a shipment from the US, while Balkan neighbour and aspirant EU country Serbia started up its new Russian natural gas pipeline route from Gazprom on January 1.

Russian natural gas giant Gazprom marked the first anniversary of the coming on stream of the first gas pipeline from Russia to China, regarded as competition for LNG, but details released of current pipeline operations and capacities show less than expected year-one deliveries.

Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp. have held talks on the increasing deliveries of pipeline natural gas to Northern China from Russian in the Power of Siberia pipeline project in competition with LNG cargoes, with the Chinese asking and receiving higher daily volumes.