LNG

Gazprom Neft, the refining and logistics arm of Russian natural gas giant Gazprom, said the installation of tanks and other cryogenic equipment had now been completed on the nation’s first LNG bunkering vessel, scheduled to begin operations in 2021.

“This high-tech vessel will be providing environmentally-friendly NGV-fuel transportation and bunkering services for clients at major ports throughout the Baltic Sea area, including St Petersburg, Ust-Luga, Primorsk and elsewhere,” said the company.

Gazprom Neft’s bunkering vessel, which is currently being constructed at the Keppel Offshore and Marine shipyard in Singapore, will be the first ship in the Russian Federation able to undertake ship-to-ship LNG fuelling operations.

The Russian project is benefiting from Keppel’s strong track record in ice-class vessel construction and experience in handling cryogenic equipment. Keppel has so far delivered 11 ice-class vessels.

Gazprom Neft will begin LNG bunkering for likely first customers Rosmorport, the Russian state operator of ferries and service vessels, as well as energy shipping fleet and owner Sovcomflot for its 11 LNG-fuelled Aframax crude tankers on order.

The Arc4 ice-class Gazprom Neft vessel is 100 metres in length, and 19 metres wide and with 5,800 cubic metres of capacity. The average time for refuelling client vessels is likely to be around eight hours.

Gazprom Neft said construction work has already involved the installation of two cargo tanks, each with a capacity of 2,900 cubic metres and manufactured using a nickel-iron-based alloy.

It added that special reinforcing props attached to the hull structure in the cargo holds had to be used to install the tanks.

The LNG bunkering vessel has also been fitted with pumps and piping for loading and discharging LNG, and a fuel-tank cooling system.

In line with planned scheduling, the company said the next stage in building the LNG bunkering vessel was the installation of the cargo deck, while pipe-fitting and the installation of cargo-handling equipment is next on the agenda.

“The best international technologies, both in shipbuilding and in LNG storage and transportation, are being used on Russia’s first LNG bunkering project,” said Alexei Medvedev, Director General of Gazprom Neft-Marine Bunkering.

“Seventy percent of key construction works are now complete. The ship’s hull has been assembled, and energy facilities have been installed, as have fuel tanks,” added Medvedev. 

Gazprom plans to order Russian-manufactured LNG-powered trucks to transport liquid helium from the Amur Gas Processing Plant, the largest such plant in Russia and second-biggest in the world.

Prior to being fed into “Power of Siberia” natural gas pipeline to China gas undergoes treatment at Amur, producing valuable petrochemicals and gases. 

The construction site of the Amur GPP is located near the town of Svobodny in the Amur Region of the Russian Far East.

Alexey Miller, Chairman of Gazprom, and Sergey Chemezov, Director General of the state-owned Rostec Corp. signed an agreement for the first batch of LNG-powered trucks to be produced.

The vehicles will be made by the Kamaz Group, a subsidiary of Rostec.

“The first 18 LNG-powered trucks that will transport helium will have special thermally-insulated containers and are expected to be delivered in 2021,” said Gazprom.

The Amur Gas GPP has a design capacity of 42 billion cubic metres of gas per year and when fully completed will include the world's largest helium production facilities.

The completed plant will comprise six production lines, with the first two lines slated for commissioning in 2021. 

The remaining lines will be consecutively put into operation before the end of 2024. The Amur plant is expected to reach its design capacity by 2025.

In addition to sales of gas and helium, the plant will produce ethane, propane, butane and pentane-hexane fraction.

Gazprom and Chinese major, China National Petroleum Corp., have signed a 30-year Sales and Purchase Agreement for Russian gas to be supplied via the northern pipeline route, which was partially started up in December 2019 to send limited volumes.