PRIGORODNY (Sakhalin), February 18 (RIA Novosti) -
Russia unveiled its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in
Sakhalin on Wednesday in a ceremony involving President Dmitry
Medvedev.
The plant is designed to liquefy gas produced as part of
the Sakhalin-II oil and gas project off Russia's Pacific Coast.
Some 9.6 million metric tons of LNG will be produced.
Companies from Japan, the United States and South Korea
have already signed contracts with Russia to buy the bulk of
the gas within the next 25 years. Tankers with a capacity of
18,000 to 145,000 cubic meters will be used to deliver the LNG
from the plant.
The opening ceremony was also attended by Japanese Prime
Minister Taro Aso, British Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and
Dutch Economics Minister Maria van der Hoeven.
The $20 billion Sakhalin II project includes the
Piltun-Astokhskoye and Lunskoye oil and gas fields on Sakhalin
Island's northeastern shelf, with recoverable reserves
estimated at 150 million tons (1.1 billion bbl) of oil and 500
billion cubic meters of natural gas.
The minority partners in the project, Royal Dutch Shell,
Mitsui and Mitsubishi, currently hold 27.5%, 12.5% and 10%
stakes in the project respectively. Gazprom acquired a
controlling stake (50% plus one share) in the project in
December 2006.
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