WASHINGTON, January 30 (Itar-Tass) – Russian enterprises in the Far East in the near future will be able to produce 20-25 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG), RF State Secretary - Deputy Energy Minister Yuri Sentyurin stated on Tuesday. He took part in a seminar on the export of this type of fuel, organised at the Russian Embassy in Washington.
Sentyurin said that the construction of an LNG plant in Vladivostok will begin this year and is to be completed by 2017. He also said that a similar facility is already operating in Sakhalin. “In general, we believe that the volume of 20-25 million tonnes will be sufficient and can be successfully sold at a high price,” he said, referring to the Asia-Pacific region.
The Russian deputy energy minister drew attention to the assessments of experts, including American, regarding the gas price difference in various regions. According to him, in countries of the Asia-Pacific region, where there is rapid growth in gas consumption, the prices are five times higher than in the United States. He promised that Russia “will concentrate the main efforts” on the Asia-Pacific region.
At the same time, the deputy minister admitted, “We don’t regard the European LNG market as promising.” According to him, this is caused by the already well-established in many ways transport system in the European direction.
Sentyurin also expressed the view that “a large range of gas prices testifies to the market volatility, which cannot continue for a long time.” According to him, “in this situation, gas buyers have a desire to play on it to reduce the prices, in particular in Europe, where there is a trend for refusal from non-long-term contracts with Gazprom and for the transfer to short-term agreements.” “We suppose that our European partners pay too much attention to short-term contracts at the expense of creating long-term prospects,” said the RF deputy energy minister.