Gazprom considers small-scale LNG exports to China

Gazprom Export, the exporting arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom may build small-scale LNG plants in the country’s remote Far East for exports to the world’s largest energy consumer, China.

Gazprom Export, which has already established its presence in the European small-scale LNG market and has been exporting the chilled fuel to Poland, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic countries, is looking to expand and diversify the business.

“Gazprom closely monitors the development of the ssLNG (small-scale LNG) market in China and in addition to the infrastructure for natural gas supply studies the opportunity of building ssLNG plants in the Far East,” Igor Mainitsky, head of Gazprom Export’s LNG export division said in the company’s July corporate magazine.

“We are also looking at Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean markets,” Mainitsky said.

According to Mainitsky, there are now four export-oriented small-scale LNG plants in Russia: one in the Kaliningrad region, two near St. Petersburg (Peterhof and Kingisepp) and one in Pskov, the latter was put into operation in May 2016. The total capacity of these plants is 68,000 t/yr.

“Gazprom-affiliated Gazprombank has invested in a major mid-scale LNG project in the city of Vysotsk, Leningrad region. The planned overall capacity of the plant is 660,000 t/yr which could be expanded to 1.3 MTPA. The plant is due to be commissioned in the middle of 2018,”  Mainitsky said.

Gazprom plans to build other LNG plants in the Leningrad region, he said, adding that the Baltic LNG project with planned capacity of 10 MTPA is a large-scale LNG project but “will also provide an opportunity for ssLNG.”

“We’ve also been analyzing an opportunity of building a 0.5 MTPA ssLNG plant on the shores of the Black Sea,” Mainitsky said.