MURMANSK, January 22. /TASS/. Russia may take a leading position in the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and in midterm it may overtake Qatar, the world's largest LNG exporter. The potential of the Russian liquefied natural gas production, taking into account the launch of all promising projects, is estimated at more than 200 million tons per year, Alexey Fadeev, Doctor of Economics, Professor at the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, told TASS.
"Right now, LNG production in Russia is about 33 million tons per year. The Russian government has set a task to double the production, and the strategic goal is to produce at least 100 million tons of LNG per year, which is comparable and even more than what the world's leading countries like, for example, Qatar, are producing. Noteworthy, the total capacity of the potential Russian LNG production, taking into account the launch of all promising projects, is estimated at more than 200 million tons of gas per year," he said.
LNG production amid sanctions
The liquefied natural gas production has always taken a special position in the Russian oil and gas sector, and its role has grown significantly due to the shrunk supplies of the Russian pipeline gas to the EU, he continued. Nowadays, the total number of LNG projects in Russia, including low-tonnage ones, is more than 70, and those projects have been operating and developing despite the sanctions.
"In late 2023, we learned about sanctions against the Arctic LNG-2 project with 16.5 million tons of gas per year, implemented by Novatek. Foreign shareholders have frozen participation in the project, but this does not mean that it will not be implemented. Novatek will probably revise it, and, possibly with delays, the project anyway will start working," he said.
Arctic LNG-2 is not the first Russian project affected by sanctions, he told TASS. The first restrictive measures back in 2014 banned technology transfer and the supply of equipment for exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the Arctic, which pushed Russia to pursue its own technological policy, to form and develop import substitution strategies to avoid dependence on imported equipment and technologies as soon as possible. The sanctions have created additional opportunities to develop the Russian market of supplies for the oil and gas industry.
"Clearly, the LNG sector needs to be independent from imports, it requires Russian solutions in gas liquefaction. It is important that the government has been supporting actively the import substitution - the LNG production equipment is one of the seven most important areas supervised by the country's Coordinating Council for Import Substitution. And, of course, the development of the national system of standards for oil and gas equipment and technologies is the cornerstone in achieving the technological sovereignty. LNG production in Russia is ramping up, and nowadays the country has every opportunity to become a global leader in this field," the expert said in conclusion.