Russian LNG production up in January-August - LNG Prime

Oct 17, 2024

Rosstat’s data show that the country’s LNG terminals produced 22.4 million mt during January-August, up by 7.3 percent from the same period last year.

This compares to 20.9 million mt of LNG in January-August last year.

Last month, LNG production reached about 2.8 million mt, according to Rosstat.

This marks a rise of 30.3 percent compared to the same month in 2023 and an increase compared to 2.3 million mt in the prior month.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander said last week that the country expects to produce 35 million mt of LNG in 2024, according to a statement by Russia’s Ministry of Transport.

Rosstat’s data shows that LNG production in 2023 amounted to 32.9 million mt.

Russia currently produces LNG via Novatek and Gazprom-operated LNG terminals.

Gazprom operates the Sakhalin-2 LNG terminal with a capacity of 10.8 mtpa and the mid-scale Portovaya LNG complex in the Leningrad region with a capacity of about 1.5 mtpa.

Russia’s Sakhalin Energy LLC, the operator of the Prigorodnoye LNG export plant controlled by Gazprom, said in a statement on August 5 it has resumed operations at the facility after completing maintenance activities.

The LNG terminal operator carriers annual maintenance activities during summer.

Besides these facilities, Novatek operates the 17.4 mtpa Yamal LNG plant in Sabetta.

In July, Novatek delivered this year’s first Yamal LNG cargo via the eastern part of the Northern Sea Route to China.

Novatek also operates the mid-scale LNG plant in Russia’s Baltic Sea port of Vysotsk with a capacity of more than 660 thousand tons of LNG per year.

In addition, Novatek is working on the sanctioned Arctic LNG-2 export plant.

Last month, Novatek delivered the second gravity-based structure platform from its yard near Murmansk to the site of the Arctic LNG 2 project located on the Gydan peninsula.

The company completed the second GBS despite sanctions by the US and the EU related to the Arctic LNG 2 project.

The first GBS left the Belokamenka yard in July last year and Novatek completed the installation on the underbase foundation on the seabed at the Utrenniy terminal in August.

The first and second GBS each have a capacity of about 6.6 mtpa.

The US government recently imposed sanctions on seven LNG carriers tied to the Novatek-operated Arctic LNG 2 and Yamal LNG projects in Russia.

The Department of State said in a statement on August 23 that these new sanctions are targeting shipping companies that loaded and transported LNG from the Arctic LNG 2 project and Russia’s procurement of LNG tankers.

The UK government also recently imposed sanctions on five LNG carriers and two associated entities linked to Russian LNG exports, including from the Arctic LNG 2 project.

Novatek denied it is establishing a “shadow fleet” of LNG carriers to transport LNG from its Arctic LNG 2 project.

“The allegations made in the media, namely that the company is involved in the establishment and management of a shadow fleet, as well as in loading products from the Arctic LNG 2 project, are untrue and do not stand up to facts,” the company said.