"I allow" said president Putin and a large concrete platform, with a factory-mounted line of natural gas liquefaction, set off on the North Sea Road to the Gydansk Peninsula.
The production and export of LNG from another Russian terminal in the Arctic will take off from December. The president personally came to the mill "Novatek-Murmansk", producing serial installations to open a fresh export phase of Russian gas.
The platform sailed from Murmanska to the Gydan Peninsula, on the Karski Sea coast, at the mouth of the Ob River. Installations are being built there, worth over $20 billion to produce almost 20 million tons of LNG per year (accurately 19.8 million tons, or 27 billion m3 of gas – 1 and a half times more than Poland consumes). What has already arrived is the first LNG production line. Powerful design, weighing 640 1000 tons (as many as half a million cars) in which the tank will safely accommodate 3 Boeing-737s. The full Arctic LNG-2 terminal will consist of 3 specified lines, each of 14 modules, weighing a full of 160 1000 tonnes. The first 1 will start by the end of this year, the second 1 – next year, the 3rd 1 will be established in 2026.
This installation is 1 of a kind, no 1 has always managed to condense methane on specified a scale in the gravitational process. It's a large-toned technology called Arctic Mix, processing gas straight on the platform. The issue of liquefied methane (at minus 161o C) is the tip of a technological iceberg of immense sizes. This immense amount of equipment, installations, processes are products of hundreds of Russian companies. Jobs for 80,000 workers throughout Russia, including 17,000 in Murmansk alone. It is surely the success of Russian engineers and corporations specified as Novatek, private, but besides full identifiable with the interests of Russia.
I described earlier (Arctic gas drives technologies | Think Poland (myślpolska.info) and Arctic cascade of technology | Think Poland (myślpolska.info) Russian technological pursuit, nevertheless Arctic LNG-2 is simply a qualitative leap towards erstwhile installations. And fresh technologies, especially on specified a powerful scale, don't work out overnight. For many years, the slogan “importationplaces” has been repeated like a mantra, but having obtained state relief and support, Novatek ordered plan and equipment in the West – erstwhile terminals are an example of this. Russian participation was trace, all key installations – foreign. It was understandable, of course, that Russian technologies were only born, that we had to “drive” them, so it was easier to deal with Italy. By the time the “crisks came to Matysk”, the western suppliers took the majadan and so many were seen.
Deliver their equipment, build installations, committed planet leaders: turbines – American Baker Hughes, compressors – German Siemens, and heat exchangers – Linde. However, in 2022 they withdrew from the investment, discontinued the supply of spare parts. From Russia, the suppliers of liquefaction technology escaped from fear of US sanctions – from the dominant marketplace of Air Products, through Shell or Air Liquide, to the tiny ones among them – German Linde, for which Russian projects were the only chance to get higher in competition with Anglo-Saxon giants. However, he bowed down, present he is facing court trials and asset requisition due to a contract break and abandoning the construction of Baltic LNG in Ust-Luga.
In 2022 Russia exported 33 million tonnes of LNG. The fresh 3 lines of Arctic LNG-2 terminal will add almost 20 million tonnes. However, while gas from erstwhile projects flowed shuttlely between Europe and Asia, US allies will stay distant from the fresh Arctic LNG-2 for fear of sanctions (https://myslpolska.info/2023/11/17/lucky-need-destroy-ten-project/).
OFAC lists America's economical enemies on the list of "SDNs" (specially designated units) where individuals and businesses are not allowed to do business with. Arctic LNG-2 was among respective twelve entities (also alongside terrorists, drug dealers, smugglers). The owner of Novateka, Leonid Michelson, considered this to be “a appreciation of our professionalism”. U.S. intentions were clear: “Many liked the prices of $30-35 last year. I consider them crazy.”
Andrzej Szczęsniak
photo of cremlin.ru
Think Poland, No. 49-50 (3-10.12.2023)
