LNG plant from “Gazprom”: in the absence of fish and Europeans to spite

The national treasure will give Krasnoyarsk residents liquefied natural gas from a local factory, which they will build at their own expense. Why this attraction of generosity?

LNG plant in Boguchansky district

In front of Krasnoyarsk, gas again dawned – this time LNG. On the sidelines of the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum, Gazprom expressed its readiness to build a plant for the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the region for 182 billion rubles.

So far, no specifics and strict contractual obligations. The government of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Gazprom Nedra signed a cooperation agreement that provides for the company’s participation in “joint projects for the geological study and development of small natural gas fields.”

Within the framework of cooperation, at the first stage, pipeline gasification of the Boguchansky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory is proposed in the amount of 26.9 million cubic meters per year, at the second stage – the construction of an LNG plant in the same Boguchansky district, near the village of Taezhny.

The plant will include two production lines. With a total capacity of 2 million tons of LNG per year. Capital costs for gas production and construction of the plant are estimated at 181.6 billion rubles. Another 40.4 billion will be spent on gas transportation infrastructure. 181 billion is promised as a tax return to the budget of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

They want to make the Abakansky (reserves – 42.5 billion cubic meters of gas), Ibinsky (29.2 billion cubic meters) and Ilbokichsky (59 billion cubic meters) licensed areas of Gazprom as the resource base of the project. By 2025, it is expected to reach the maximum production at the level of 3.9 billion cubic meters.

It is planned to transport LNG to consumers by road and rail, as well as using LNG-fueled gas carriers along the waters of the Yenisei and Angara rivers. For medium-sized LNG plants, in principle, river and sea logistics are typical: at present, most of these projects are operating and are planned for implementation on the sea coast with the possibility of shipment to gas carriers.

In the cities of the region, it is planned to build special storage facilities – they will appear in Krasnoyarsk, Achinsk, Zheleznogorsk, Surikov. The presentations for the project also indicate that 15 industrial enterprises of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, one thermal power plant and 22 boiler houses will be provided with gas.

The construction of an LNG plant may run into delays and obstacles in the form of a banal lack of high-quality domestic liquefaction technologies. Experts believe that when designing the Boguchansky LNG plant, which is medium-tonnage in terms of its capacity, Gazprom could use its own developments – taking the LNG plant near the Portovaya compressor station in the Leningrad Region with a capacity of 1.5 million tons per year as a tracing paper , which Gazprom built with equipment from Russian manufacturers.

On lack of fish

Frankly speaking, no one expected a turnaround with the construction of the LNG plant. Residents of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in principle, somehow already got used to the idea that all discussions about gas are nothing more than fairy tales for fools. Previously, Gazprom has already brushed aside the Krasnoyarsk Territory, leaving the region a white spot on the gasification map. He referred to the lack of economic justification. Simply put, it was unprofitable for the gentlemen from the gas monopoly to deal with such trifles as providing the Krasnoyarsk people with gas. Billions of cubic meters of fuel sailed abroad, including to Europe.

But over the past year, the Russian macroeconomics and the structure of foreign trade turnover have undergone dramatic changes. And suddenly Gazprom turned its attention to the domestic market and was filled with a desire to supply its compatriots with blue fuel. It is clear that the national treasure was driven into not the most advantageous position with the loss of Western markets. Actually, consumers in the Krasnoyarsk Territory turned out to be fish in the absence of fish. Besides, Gazprom has a good resource base in the region. Why not? The situation is favorable.

It is worth noting that the Krasnoyarsk gas-bearing cluster of Gazprom’s fields was initially considered by the company as a resource base for the existing Power of Siberia, along with the Chayandinskoye field in Yakutia and the Kovykta field in the Irkutsk region. But it did not grow together, and the deposits remained ownerless.

The catch is that the project is long-term. The first stage will take about two years, the second about another five or six years.

Among other things, the project with the construction of an LNG plant will not cover all the needs of the region. The declared two million tons of liquefied natural gas per year is a small amount. Both for consumption in the region and for Gazprom. However, industry experts believe that several such plants will be able to replace a small European country in terms of production volumes – but not in terms of price, it is being specified.

But for example, the neighboring Irkutsk region is not lucky – it also has its own internal gas resources, but Gazprom does not even promise gasification to this region. At the end of last year, they launched production at the Kovykta field, from where the fuel should go to China. However, not a word about gas supply to the region itself.

If everything works out, Gazprom will become one of the key taxpayers in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Only Rosneft, with its Arctic oil and gas project Vostok Oil, has so far developed on a large scale among the raw material producers in the region.

The question is, what will happen to the “Power of Siberia – 2”? If you answer without equivocation: yes, the devil knows. The pipeline from Yamal to China has been lost in the intricacies of negotiations between Russia and China. Gazprom periodically shakes the information field with stuffing about the fact that everything is about to be agreed, but the Chinese ordered a long wait. So, for example, as recently as February, Alexey Miller made a statement that his company was preparing to implement Power of Siberia 2. He said yes, no one attached any importance to this, since the gas workers do not have a contract with China in their hands. Everything else is from the onion.

According to the latest data available, the Power of Siberia 2 route has been approved in favor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory – the gas pipeline will stretch 50 kilometers from the regional capital. But only Xi Jinping knows when this will happen.