Novatek will build pipeline to Murmansk for LNG and gasification - CEO
MOSCOW. Oct 11 (Interfax) - Novatek will build the gas pipeline to Murmansk, which will supply the Murmansk LNG plant as well as the regions through which the pipeline passes, the company's CEO Leonid Mikhelson told reporters on the sidelines of Russian Energy Week.
"Novatek's building it," he said.
Mikhelson said the decision was reached by the country's leadership based on the several discussions.
He said that during those discussions it had been decided to increase the future pipeline's capacity from 30 billion to 40 billion cubic meters to not only supply the plant but also the regions with gas.
"The pipeline's capacity for Murmansk LNG is 30 bcm. The government's decision was to review that decision. We reviewed it and it will be built for 40 bcm, which means it can meet all the needs for gas supply on north Karelia and in the Murmansk region," Mikhelson said.
Later, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a plenary session of Russian Energy Week, confirmed that up to 10 bcm of gas using the future pipeline will go to the needs of the population and enterprises in Karelia and the Murmansk region.
"The Murmansk region and Karelia will receive gas from the Volkhov - Murmansk - Belokamenka gas pipeline. The pipeline will be laid for a project for the production of liquefied gas on the Kola Peninsula, but part of its capacity, namely up to 10 bcm per year, will be used to supply enterprises and social facilities, and residential buildings in Karelia and the Murmansk region for the development of environmentally friendly power generation," Putin said.
Novatek presented the Murmansk LNG project this summer. Its advantages, according to the authors of the project, include an ice-free port and the availability of cheap electricity from the Kola Nuclear Power Plant. The company plans to use compressors with electric drives to produce liquefied natural gas.
The plant is expected to use Novatek's Arctic Mix technology, with which it is possible to build liquefaction trains with capacity of up to 7 million tonnes of LNG per year.