Gazprom breaks ground on Ust-Luga integrated gas processing, petchem cluster
PJSC Gazprom and its affiliates have started construction on a previously announced combined gas processing, liquefaction, and chemical complex at the Gulf of Finland near the seaport of Ust-Luga, Leningrad Oblast, Russia (OGJ Online, June 10, 2020).
Construction activities on the proposed complex for processing ethane-containing gas (CPECG) began on May 21 and will cover works on the CPECG’s two major enterprises, including RusKhimAlyans’—a 50-50 special-purpose venture of Gazprom and RusGazDobycha—integrated natural gas processing and liquefaction complex (GPC of the CPECG), as well as RusGazDobycha subsidiary Baltic Chemical Complex LLC’s (BCC) planned ethane-cracking complex, or gas chemical complex (GCC of the CPECG), Gazprom said.
RusKhimAlyans GPC, which will have 13 million-tonnes/year liquefaction capacity, initially will receive 45 billion cu m/year (bcmy) of wet natural gas feedstock from Gazprom’s Achimov and Valanginian deposits in the Nadym-Pur-Taz region of the Yamal Peninsula, and later, from specially allocated ethane gas pipelines delivering production from the region’s yet-to-be-developed Tambeyskoye field, the peninsula’s richest, according to Gazprom.
The GPC will produce as much as 4 million tpy of ethane, and more than 2.2 million tpy of LPG, with ethane from the complex to feed nearby BCC’s proposed $13-billion ethane cracking project that—once in operation—will produce more than 3 million tpy of polymers (OGJ Online, Nov. 9, 2020). About 18 bcmy of gas remaining after processing at GPC—including ethane extraction, LPG, and 13 million tpy of LNG—will be exported from the site via Gazprom’s gas transmission lines (OGJ Online, Mar. 29, 2021).
Field development plan
Alongside the CPECG May groundbreaking, Gazprom and RusGazDobycha also confirmed signing of a master agreement under which the companies plan to jointly develop Tambeyskoye field, which is located within three Gazprom-owned licensed blocks—Severo-Tambeysky, Zapadno-Tambeysky, and Tasiysky—in the Yamal Peninsula.
As part of the agreement, Gazprom subsidiary Gazprom Nedra and RusGazDobycha will form Tambey Gazdobycha, a 50-50 joint venture that will hold subsurface-use licenses for the area on which Tambeyskoye lies and will be responsible for the field’s predevelopment and development, Gazprom said.
Containing gas reserves of more than 5.2 trillion cu m and 380 million tonnes of oil-gas condensate, Tambeyskoye is scheduled to begin producing gas in 2026, according to Gazprom.
Linde technology deal
Gazprom also said GPC operator RusKhimAlyans and Linde PLC have entered an agreement under which the companies will cooperate on creating and implementing jointly developed technologies for advanced natural gas processing and liquefaction—including those involving synthetic hydrocarbons production—as as well as technology for ethane cracking.
The strategic cooperation agreement also will develop measures for localizing manufacturing of equipment and materials used to build gas liquefaction and processing installations, Gazprom said.
RusKhimAlyans latest agreement with Linde follows the operator’s late-March 2021 preliminary contract award to Linde Engineering for delivery of engineering, procurement, and site services (EPSS)—including equipment supply and maintenance—on gas processing and off-site installations of the CPECG’s GPC.
Robert Brelsford | Downstream Editor
Robert Brelsford joined Oil & Gas Journal in October 2013 as downstream technology editor after 8 years as a crude oil price and news reporter on spot crude transactions at the US Gulf Coast, West Coast, Canadian, and Latin American markets. He holds a BA (2000) in English from Rice University and an MS (2003) in education and social policy from Northwestern University.
