Russian Investment Company Hires TechnipFMC to Design $10 bln LNG Plant

Russian investment group A-Property has hired energy services company TechnipFMC to design a $10 billion liquefied natural gas operation in the north of the country that it hopes to complete by 2025 and sell LNG to Asia, Energy World reported.

A-Property spokeswoman Anastasia Kharitonova told Reuters that the plant and surrounding infrastructure in the remote northern republic of Yakutia would require a $10 billion investment.

The LNG plant will aim to produce 13 million tonnes of LNG per year at maximum capacity and will be located relatively close to the Chinese border. A-Property plans to seek permission from the Russian government to export LNG, Kharitonova said.

Russia has prioritized the development of LNG for export and the project may help the country reach its goal of producing 120 to 130 million tonnes of LNG a year in the next decade and raise its share in the global LNG market to up to 20 percent from around 6 percent in 2018, based on government data.

TechnipFMC will work on the design phase of the project which should be complete by the end of 2020.

A-Property is owned by Russian energy tycoon Albert Avdolyan, partner of Russian state technology corporation Rostec.

Last year, Avdolyan’s firm acquired the largest gas producer in Yakutia after buying out its debt and plans to use it as the resource base for the announced LNG project.