Save for later Print Download Share LinkedIn Twitter Gazprom expects to launch the 45 Bcm/yr Ust-Luga gas processing and LNG plant in northwestern Russia no earlier than end-July 2024, Deputy CEO Vitaly Markelov told an in-house magazine Friday. Ust-Luga should produce 13 million metric tons/yr of LNG, to be sold mainly in Europe, Turkey and partly in Africa. It is part of Russia’s plan to produce up to 140 million tons/yr by 2035, up from some 30 million tons in 2020 (related). The initial start-up date was planned in late 2023, but the CEO of RusGazDobycha, Gazprom’s partner in the project, explained earlier this week that late 2023 was the timeline for completion of construction, supplies should start in 2024 (LNGI Apr.21'21). The delay could be more than half a year, according to Markelov. Commissioning work on the first 22.5 Bcm/yr phase should be complete by Jul. 31, 2024, while on the second by Jul. 31, 2025, he said. That suggests that the first 6.5 million ton/yr LNG train will also start after July 2024 and the second train a year later. Gazprom has yet to start Ust-Luga construction. It will pick liquefaction technology by the end of the second quarter this year, RusGazDobycha Managing Director Dmitry Kolobov was quoted as saying on Thursday. The partners are choosing between Air Products and Linde technologies (LNGI Apr.20'21).
