Sakhalin Energy, controlled by Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom, on Wednesday launched the $22 billion project that has become a landmark case in the Kremlin's reasserting control over the country's natural resources.
President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would be able to supply 5 percent of world demand for the super-cooled gas when the Sakhalin-2 project was running at full capacity next year.
The Sakhalin-2 project, in which Royal Dutch Shell owns a minority stake having ceded control to Gazprom, is the first LNG plant in Russia and opens up new frontiers in Asia and North America for the world's largest gas producer.
The plant will ultimately produce 9.6 million tons per year of LNG. A Sakhalin Energy spokesman said total LNG volumes were equivalent to 3.2 million tons for this year, about half of earlier government estimates of 6.0 million tons.
The amount is expected to rise to about 160 cargoes as the facility reaches full capacity next year.
About 65 percent of the plant's output will be shipped to eight companies in Japan, the world's top consumer of LNG, with the rest sold to South Korea and the LNG-hungry North American market via a Mexican terminal, then on to the U.S. West Coast.
Source: Reuters
Author: Ksenia Kochneva
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Russia to Supply Appx. 50 Cargoes of LNG in 2009
Russia will supply about 50 cargoes of liquefied natural gas this year from a new plant on the Pacific island of Sakhalin that will establish it as a major energy supplier to Asian markets
