LNG

Russia’s natural gas giant Gazprom has given a board update on liquefied natural gas projects for maritime and road transport as well as gas grid expansion to 67 areas in the Russian Federation through 2025.

Gazprom said it was proceeding with the Ust-Luga LNG production plant on the Baltic Coast and was seeking finance for the facility located near Saint Petersburg and which would be the largest in northwest Europe.

Russian natural gas company Gazprom said the 1,800th cargo departed from the Port of Prigorodnoye on Sakhalin Island in Russia’s Far East from the liquefaction plant that is marking its anniversary after being over-shadowed for the last few years by the larger Yamal facility in the Arctic region.

Gazprom said the latest Sakhalin shipment was lifted by the 135,000 cubic metres capacity vessel “Hyundai Aquapia”, 11 years after the first cargo departed on March 29, 2009.

The cargo was purchased by Korea Gas Corp.  and is scheduled to be discharged on March 30 at the South Korean terminal at Incheon.

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 27.5 percent minus one share and Japanese trading houses Mitsui and Co. with 12.5 percent and Mitsubishi Corp. with 10 percent.

The rival Yamal LNG plant with output of 16.5 MTPA from three Trains is operated by independent Russian natural gas company Novatek and also has overseas investors in French major Total and China National Petroleum Corp.

The company is also developing the Arctic LNG II project on the Siberian Gydan Peninsula with shareholders, including Total and  from Chinese and Japanese companies.

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 million tonnes per annum from the nameplate capacity of 9.6 MTPA.

LNG cargoes produced and marketed by operating company by Sakhalin Energy 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.

Russian natural gas pipeline giant Gazprom, owner of the Sakhalin LNG export plant in the Russian Far East, has sent a delegation to meet leaders in Bangladesh to discuss energy cooperation in exploration and production and LNG.

Gazprom of Russia, the world’s largest natural gas company and a main pipeline supplier to Western and Central Europe, is facing a phenomenon dating from the collapse of the Soviet Union 28 years ago and economic upheavals and difficulties that followed and that is what to do with “ownerless” gas facilities and networks around the Russian Federation.

Royal Dutch Shell has signed a further agreement with Russian natural gas company Gazprom to make progress on plans to build a liquefied natural gas export plant on the northwest Russian coast to supply global markets.

Gazprom, the Russian pipeline natural gas supplier to Europe and owner of the Sakhalin Island LNG export plant, has proved itself to be slow moving in expanding Sakhalin with an additional liquefaction Train to take nameplate capacity to around 14.4 million tonnes per annum amid Asian demand.