On the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum, Russian energy major Gazprom and Japanese Mitsui & Co. Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding on the LNG plant project Baltic LNG.
A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Masami Iijima, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mitsui & Co., Ltd., took place on 12 September, at the 4th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
Baltic LNG is a natural gas liquefaction plant in Leningrad, to be built near the seaport of Ust-Luga, with an expected annual capacity of 10 million tons. The potential target markets for the project include countries in the Atlantic region, Middle East, and South Asia, as well as small-scale LNG markets in the areas of the Baltic and North Seas. The possibility of LNG swap deals is also under consideration.
In addition, the parties discussed the ongoing cooperation on the Sakhalin II project, which includes Russia’s first LNG plant, and the prospects for collaboration between the companies. In particular, the meeting addressed the construction of the third train of the Sakhalin II LNG plant.
Gazprom and Mitsui are partners in the Sakhalin II project and the operator is Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd.
In December 2016, the two parties signed the Agreement of Strategic Cooperation envisaging collaboration in various areas, including Sakhalin II project expansion and LNG bunkering.
Alexey Miller and Masami Iijima also considered the avenues for cooperation in the area of small- and mid-scale LNG in the Far East, under a deal inked in September last year.
