NEWS
Gazprom's first ever LNG export to US arrives
New York, Sept 2 (LNG journal)
- Gazprom's first liquefied natural gas export to the United States was scheduled to dock Friday at the Cove Point receiving terminal in the East Coast state of Maryland, officials said.
The LNG carrier Castillo de Vellalba was carrying 60,000 metric tonnes of LNG. The cargo was acquired by the UK-based trading arm of Gazprom in a swap deal last month with Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group of the UK .
Gazprom, which controls 25 percent of the world's natural gas reserves, has no LNG facilities or production capability as yet, although it is expected to become North America 's biggest LNG supplier in the years ahead.
By 2009, Gazprom wants to have its own LNG export terminal in the Baltic port of Ust Luga , near St. Petersburg , which would receive output from existing gas pipelines. It also has a stake in the Shell-led Sakhalin-2 project in the Russian Far East, which will begin massive LNG export shipments in 2008.
Alexander Medvedev, general director of Gazexport, Gazprom's export arm, said: “A relevant contract basis was established for this and next year we'll send at least five LNG tankers to the United States .”
Medvedev was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying the company was hoping to extend its operational base in the US and had received a relevant offer from the state of Louisiana .
“The main US LNG trading ground is located in Louisiana and we want to be as close to it as possible,” he said. “But we are also considering other venues for our representative office, for example, in Houston , Texas .”
