Constructing Murmansk LNG at 30 bcm of gas per year planned by 2030 - Novak
MOSCOW. Feb 12 (Interfax) - The Murmansk LNG natural gas liquefaction plant, whose construction is being implemented by Novatek, and which will have capacity of around 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year, should be completed by 2030, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said during a meeting at the Federation Council.
Novak said that construction of a gas pipeline to the Murmansk Region is planned for the same date.
"As of today, our plans are that constructing the plant is planned for around 2030, and, accordingly, provisioning the relevant infrastructure is also planned for the same time," Novak said.
Capacity of 30 billion cubic meters of gas envisages production of approximately 20 million tonnes of LNG per year.
Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson said that the company has been developing a project for an LNG plant with three lines of 6.8 million tonnes each.
There was a statement later in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) materials of the design documentation for the LNG loading terminal that cargo turnover at the Murmansk LNG terminal at full development should be 13.6 million tons of LNG per year, with two stages of 6.8 million tons per year.
According to Novak, the volume of gas consumption in the Murmansk Region for housing and communal services is estimated at below 1 billion cubic meters, while consumption by industrial enterprises could be 7-8 billion cubic meters per year. However, it is necessary to lay about 1,500 kilometers of trunk infrastructure in order to gasify the region, thus the price of energy resources is too high in order to deliver gas there.
"That is why our gasification model in the Murmansk Region is now connected, among other matters, with building a common gas pipeline for the gasification of housing and communal services, enterprises and the construction of a large gas consumer. This is a gas liquefaction plant with consumption capacity of 30 billion cubic meters of gas. Consequently, with these volumes, the economic model is being formed, and the price for consumers becomes rather acceptable and competitive," Novak said.