Sakhalin Energy says LNG repair work to last until March

Sakhalin Energy, the operator of Russia’s LNG plant in Prigorodnoye, said Friday that the repair and recovery work related to a technical “glitch” that occurred on January 26 will last until March.

The Sakhalin-2 project reported production problems last week at its 9.6 mtpa LNG export facility after an “unexpected failure of one of the gas compressor units at the onshore processing facility (OPF) located in Nogliki district, resulting in reduced gas throughput in the plant”.

“The cause of the failure has so far been determined as being a motor fault. This had no safety impact and compressor was stopped as per normal operating procedure. According to the current assessment the repair and recovery work of the engine will last until March,” a spokeswoman for operator Sakhalin Energy told LNG World News in an e-mailed statement on Friday.

According to media reports, the LNG project declared force majeure on 28 January due to a power outage at the liquefaction plant that cut its LNG output by 50 percent.

Sakhalin Energy, however, did not confirm a force majeure.

“As a consequence of the compressor failure, the company is optimizing the LUN-A platform, OPF and LNG plant operations modes in order to maximize LNG production for a period of investigation and startup of the equipment,” the spokeswoman said.

She added that Sakhalin Energy is taking all measures to reduce potential impact on LNG deliveries schedule. There is no impact on oil cargoes delivery schedule.

LNG World News Staff