EMEA News
Shell Looks to Mini-LNG Projects in Russia
After running into obstacles to the expansion of an existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Russia, Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (Shell) is pursing the development of small-scale LNG facilities in the country, Reuters reports.
Shell and Russian gas company Gazprom are partners in Russia's only LNG plant on the island of Sakhalin, which produces 10 million tonnes of LNG a year, but an expansion of capacity there has not moved forward, and Gazprom is currently working on plans for its own LNG plant at Vladivostok on the Pacific coast.
Instead, Olivier Lazare, head of Shell's Russian operation, said the company is looking at "mini LNG plants" that produce up to 1,000 tonnes per day.
"We are still at the early phase of thinking about this, how we could deploy this mini LNG here, we are still at the idea generation phase," he said.
Lazare said the company is working on mini-LNG operations in North America, with possible customers in the marine sector, as well as in mining and railroad transport.
"I do not know yet which of any of these opportunities are applicable here in Russia," he said.
Dmitry Rusanov, of Russia's state-owned shipping company Sovcomflot, said LNG has potential as a shipping fuel.
"LNG will be used increasingly as a fuel in ships as it cheaper and cleaner type of fuel," he said.
Shell has said it wants to expand its LNG sales for marine fuel and other transportation uses to more than 5 million tonnes over the next decade, and it is involved in a number of LNG projects, including in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
