First Vice-President of the Scientific and Expert Council, National LNG Association
The issue of creating Russian liquefaction technologies arose long ago.
At the time of Gazprom's ambitious plans to supply LNG to the US for the large-capacity Shtokman LNG and Vladivostok LNG projects, as well as Baltic LNG, the idea to use its own liquefaction technology was quite natural. The GMR (Gazprom Mixed Refrigerant) technology was developed in 2013 for its implementation. However, PJSC Gazprom has never implemented any large-capacity LNG production projects on its own. According to Gazprom VNIIGAZ, in 2022, several development projects were implemented to increase the company's technological independence, and a pilot plant for the production of liquefied natural gas using GMR technology was set up in the Moscow Region.
Not only has the company not built a single large-capacity production facility, but it has also chosen to put up barriers to new third-party projects. Even its own medium-tonnage project Gazprom LNG Portovaya in the Leningrad Region was implemented with a significant time delay, resulting in LNG production starting not in 2019 as planned, but only in autumn 2022.
For a long time, the prevailing position has been that there are no conditions for the development of Russian liquefaction technology due to the insufficient number of LNG production projects, which makes it impossible to ensure the payback of technology development.
However, as the LNG market develops, apart from Gazprom's projects, ideas of LNG CTCP by NOVATEK and Rosneft emerged. Thus, with the agreement of all project owners, a critical mass could be built up, at which it would be possible to work out and implement the Russian LNG production technology. It should be noted that there were enough declarations about the need to unite the efforts of the largest Russian gas companies, but these agreements did not reach practical implementation.
NOVATEK chose to acquire AP C3MR technology for its first project in the Arctic, and for subsequent projects a licence for Linde's MFC technology was acquired, although this technology has not demonstrated reliability at the Norwegian Hammerfest plant.
Nevertheless, NOVATEK decided to develop its own medium-tonnage liquefaction technology, Arctic Cascade, which was applied to Line 4 of the Yamal LNG project. Having its own liquefaction technology allowed the company not only to enter the prestigious club of liquefaction technology owners, but also ensured the sustainability of the company's development strategy. Within the shortest possible timeframe, the Company returned to the LNG production project at the Ob MCC. In 2020, NOVATEK patented the Polar Star large-scale gas liquefaction technology. In 2022, NOVATEK received a patent for the modernised Arctic Cascade liquefaction technology. It became the fourth Russian-developed technology for plants with an annual capacity of over 1 million tonnes.
The latest patent was obtained in 2023 for the "Arctic Mix" technology, which in many respects resembles Linde's MFC. It is expected to be used as the basis for a large-capacity gas liquefaction project in the Murmansk region. The scheme is simple and intuitive. "Gazprom" has built a pilot plant for its GMR large-capacity production technology, and "NOVATEK" is ready to build 3 lines at once at the "Arctic Mix". For the already announced projects, the main issue is equipment suppliers and reliability of the technology.
At the same time, the total number of large-capacity LNG projects must grow significantly for the industry to develop sustainably.
In the small tonnage LNG (LTLNG) segment, the Russian industry is one of the few examples of successful development of domestic technologies, intensive growth in the number and productivity of projects. Relatively low capital investment requirements, the ability to produce a high quality product, growing demand for LNG in the domestic market and export opportunities attract the attention of a large number of investors. Russia has developed and introduced production technologies using throttle, detander and nitrogen cycle, the performance of which is not inferior to foreign analogues. Domestic equipment manufacturers have sufficiently met the demand for units with a capacity of up to 5 tonnes per hour. As a result, as of the beginning of 2023, only two out of 18 operating MTSPG plants used foreign technologies. However, the development of the main market segments: autonomous gasification, road and water transport, stimulate investors to build more productive units, create LNG storage infrastructure in isothermal tanks, and build up the fleet of tank-containers and road tankers.
For units with a capacity of more than 5 tonnes per hour, Russian companies need to undertake significant work to develop technologies and modern equipment in order to retain the national market. The total number of projects in the stages of implementation and preparation for implementation exceeds 67 units. The domestic industry has a unique chance for development if Russian equipment is used in these projects. The main document aimed at supporting the development of LPGCG in Russia is the Roadmap for the Development of the Low-Capacity Liquefied Natural Gas and NGV Fuel Market in the Russian Federation for the Period until 2025. However, monitoring has shown that the key activities of the roadmap have not been implemented. Without systemic government support for Russian technologies and equipment manufacturers, the rapidly growing market of LNGLNG projects will be occupied by foreign suppliers, primarily Chinese suppliers.
It should be noted that in a number of areas Russian companies have competitive liquefaction solutions using blended refrigerant with adjustable composition. Production of transport tanks using aluminium alloys has been launched. The use of aluminium ensures a reduction in the empty weight of tanks, which, in turn, reduces costs in long-distance transportation. Work is underway to develop software systems - digital twins of production processes, simulators for personnel training, and artificial intelligence for LNG plant management.
Russian equipment manufacturers and technology developers should be able to access relevant indicators and technical characteristics of the best world manufacturers. For this purpose, a constantly updated directory of the best available technologies in the field of MTSPG should be developed.
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