Moscow, 29 March - Neftegaz.RU. Japan's Mitsui is interested in taking part in Russian LNG projects, and specifically in Baltic LNG, according Platts Russia's deputy energy ministry formally announced after hosting a Mitsui delegation, signaling progress in talks on the project.
«The Japanese partners expressed interest in taking part in Russia's prospective LNG projects, and Baltic LNG in particular,» the ministry said in a statement following deputy energy minister Kirill Molodtsov's meeting with Mitsui's general manager of Russia and Australia gas division, Kazuma Miyazawa, and general manager of the shale gas project division, Taichi Nagino.
The statement is the 1st official confirmation of Mitsui's interest in Gazprom and Shell-led 10 million mt/year LNG project on the Baltic Sea coast, planned for a 2023 launch.
Gazprom's officials said in 2016 that they considered both Mitsui and Mitsubishi as partners on the Baltic LNG plant, as well as swapping assets with the 2 companies.
Mitsui already holds a 12.5% stake in the Gazprom-led Sakhalin-2 consortium, which operates Russia's 1st LNG plant on the Pacific Coast, along with Shell and Mitsubishi as shareholders. The consortium plans to expand the plant's current 9.6 million mt/year nameplate capacity with the launch of the 3rd 5.4 million mt/year train, expected in 2023-24 - an issue also discussed in the ministry.
Both the Sakhalin-2 plant expansion and the Baltic LNG construction were initially marked for 2021 but postponed by 2 years after Gazprom reconsidered the global LNG demand forecast.
To read the article in Russian.
