Russia’s Sakhalin plant ships milestone LNG cargo

Russia’s Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal, operated by energy giant Gazprom, has loaded a milestone cargo at its facility in the port of Prigorodnoye.

The milestone 1,800th cargo was loaded on Wednesday onto the Hyundai Aquapia LNG carrier.

The cargo, purchased by LNG importing giant Kogas, is heading towards South Korea, according to a Gazprom statement.

Sakhalin Energy, which operates the Sakhalin-2 facility, started producing LNG back in 2009.

The feed gas comes from offshore platforms located off the north-east coast of Sakhalin Island via a gas pipeline that stretches for over 800 kilometres.

Sakhalin Energy’s Deputy Commercial Director, Arthur Lubniewski said in the statement that the Sakhalin-2 LNG terminal currently ranks among the world’s top-10 LNG plants in terms of capacity.

“In 2019, Sakhalin LNG accounted for more than 3 per cent of global LNG exports, and delivered more than 8 per cent of total LNG to LNG’s largest market Japan,” he said.

“Over the project’s history, Sakhalin LNG has been delivered to 47 destinations located in seven countries,” Lubniewski added.

Since launching the plant slightly over 11 years ago, Sakhalin Energy has produced and shipped approximately 117 million metric tonnes of LNG.

Due to regular de-bottlenecking and equipment adjustment, the LNG plant now produces more than 11 million metric tonnes per year.

The shareholders of Sakhalin Energy are Gazprom (50 per cent plus one share), Shell (27.5 per cent minus one share), Mitsui and Co. (12.5 per cent), and Mitsubishi Corporation (10 per cent).