Gazprom and partner RusGazDobycha have begun construction of a massive gas processing complex near the port of Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea. Poised to become Russia’s largest gas processing plant and one of the world’s largest by volume, the new facility is part of Gazprom’s strategy shift toward processing and will combine a gas processing plant with a gas chemical and natural gas liquefaction complex
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, speaking during the televised ceremony to mark the start of construction, said the complex will help Russia gain a greater share of the global market for LNG and gas processing.
Russia plans to triple LNG production to some 140 million tonnes annually by 2035 and raise its global LNG market share to 20%.
“Here in the northwestern part of Russia, in the Leningrad Region, we have launched the construction of a fundamentally new and high-tech industrial cluster,” said Alexei Miller, chairman and chief executive of Gazprom, speaking at the dedication ceremony. “It is essential for the region and the country at large. Advanced processing is the most efficient way to maximize the potential of the immense reserves of ethane-containing gas in Russia.”
The complex will comprise two major enterprises: the integrated complex for natural gas processing and liquefaction (GPC) and the gas chemical complex (GCC) technically affiliated with the GPC.
The cluster is designed to process annually 45 Bcm of natural gas, produce 13 mt of LNG, 3.6 mt of ethane, and up to 1.8 mt of liquefied petroleum gas.
Among the GPC’s most important products will be ethane, a raw material for the gas chemical industry. The GCC will have a capacity of over 3 million tons of polymers per year—the largest output by a single facility worldwide.
The initial phase of the new complex is slated to come on stream in 2024, while the second is to be launched in 2025, according to Reuters.
The feedstock for the GPC will come in the form of high ethane-content gas. Initially, this gas will be delivered to the enterprise from fields in the Nadym-Pur-Taz region of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, and later it will also be produced at the Tambeyskoye field. Gas production from Tambeyskoye is expected to begin in 2026.
