PressTV... Russia says it has delivered the first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Brazil in what could lead to a niche business for Moscow in Latin America.
The delivery of LNG was made by the Russian gas producer Novatek which said in a statement it had provided Brazil with the strategic fuel from its Yamal project in the Arctic.
The cargo was delivered to the Bahia regasification terminal, which is owned by Brazil’s energy giant Petrobras.
“Our LNG marketing strategy aims to diversify supply geography and customer base,” Novatek’s head Leonid Michelson was quoted by media as saying.
“This shipment represents the first LNG cargo of our own production to the Latin American market, and shows the viability of our logistical model and unique geographical location of the Yamal LNG project to deliver competitively priced LNG to any part of the world,” he added.
The $27 billion Yamal LNG project began operations last December and has already shipped two million tons of the liquefied fuel. The LNG plant is expected to have three trains with an annual capacity of 16.5 million tons per year when fully operational.
Currently, Novatek ships LNG from two trains with a total capacity of about 11 million tons per year. The launch of the third stage with a capacity of 5.5 million tons per year is planned for the beginning of 2019.
In September, Novatek announced plans for one additional line able to produce a million tons of LNG per year.
Yamal site is located about 2,500 kilometers (1,600 miles) northeast of Moscow. It is a joint venture which was developed by Russia's Novatek, France's Total and China’s CNPC. The project is meant to become one of the world's biggest LNG projects, whose final product will be shipped to both Asia and Europe. It lies at the heart of Russia’s ambitions to surpass Qatar to become the world’s leading exporter of LNG.
Poster Comment:
Makes Trump look foolish telling Europeans to buy from US rather than Russian gas when US can't compete in its own hemisphere. Canada also missed the boat by delays on LNG terminal.