Russia’s Companies Getting Ready for Export Liberalization
Russia’s Novatek announced it expanded the capacity of Purovsk plant and it launched the Eastern dome of the North-Urengoyskoye, while a Russian government committee approved amendments to a law enabling other companies other than Gazprom to export liquefied natural gas (LNG).
“We acquired our equity stake in Nortgas less than twelve months ago, and the Eastern dome of the North-Urengoyskoye field has been prepared for production launch within a very short period of time and is an important contributing factor in our gas and gas condensate production growth. The expected ramp up of gas condensate production is fully synchronized with the expansion of our processing facilities,” Novatek’s CEO Leonid Mikhelson said in a note released on Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, the company announced that the first two gas condensate stabilization trains were launched as part of an extension project for the Purovsky plant. According to the plans, the plant should more than double its capacity, from five to 11 million tons per annum.
“Expansion of the Purovsky plant allows us to increase hydrocarbon production volumes due to ability to process additional volumes of gas condensate from our newly launched fields,” Mikhelson commented in a press release.
LIBERALIZATION IN RUSSIA AND ROSNEFT
The increased capacity and production came at a historical moment for Russian gas. The last months have indicated that Russia intends to give Novatek and Rosneft the green light to export LNG. And the government committee’s approval is definitely paving the way to the liberalization.
Energy Minister Alexander Novak recently said that the government expects the law to take effect since the first of January.
Also on Tuesday, Rosneft published its consolidated IFRS financial statements for the third quarter of the year. It reported strong results, with the growth coming mainly from gas production (+16.2%).
“We made significant progress in delivering our strategic goals,” Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin said in the statement, noting improvements in the industry’s tax regime.