Sakhalin-2 LNG plant resumes operations after preventative maintenance - Gazprom deputy head Markelov

VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 11 (Interfax) - The production complex of Sakhalin Energy LLC (operator of the Sakhalin-2 PSA project) has resumed operation after preventative maintenance, Gazprom deputy head Vitaly Markelov told reporters.

"It is operational. Fully operational," he said.

Scheduled maintenance at the project began in July. The repair work extended to the production facilities of the entire gas chain of the project.

"It is operating successfully. Since 2009, this plant has produced 154 million tonnes of LNG," Markelov said during a session of the Eastern Economic Forum.

"This plant has given us the opportunity to learn how to build and operate similar plants. It is our working desk where we train our people," he said.

"In 2022, Shell (SPB: RDS.A), the operator of the project, left the plant, and the question arose: how will we continue to operate. I must say that today Sakhalin Energy, a Russian company, has taken over all the levers of management of this project, and there are no risks currently in terms of repair and maintenance. As of today, it is operating successfully," Markelov said.

"We introduced a booster compressor station this year - this allowed us to stabilize the pressure at entry to the LNG plant, increase [gas] consumption and thus the design capacity of 11.6 million tons per year will be guaranteed," he also said.

Sakhalin-2 is developing the Piltun-Astokhskoye and Lunskoye fields on the Sakhalin shelf. The Sakhalin-2 LNG plant in Prigorodnoye (southern Sakhalin) was commissioned in February 2009 and reached its full design capacity of 9.6 million tonnes of LNG per year in 2010. Subsequently, an optimization program allowed for increasing its capacity by 20% to 11.5 million tonnes.

Last year the company shipped about 11.5 million tonnes of LNG (10.41 million tonnes in 2021). LNG was delivered to Japan (60.6% of all shipments), South Korea (15.8%), China (17.9%), Taiwan (4.5%) and Indonesia (1.2%). Deliveries to China increased year-on-year, and Sakhalin LNG was delivered to Indonesia for the first time in the history of sales.

The project operator is Sakhalin Energy, co-owned by Gazprom , Mitsui and Mitsubishi.