Gazprom signs MOU for LNG cooperation with Iran
According to an announcement by Russian gas major Gazprom, the company will tap Iranian LNG in partnership with two Iranian national companies.
Gazprom said it had signed an MOU on possible cooperation in an LNG project in Iran with Iranian Oil Industry Pension, Saving and Staff Welfare Fund.
The Iran LNG project is designed to have two trains with a capacity of 5.25 metric MMtpy each. The plan is to eventually increase total production to 21 metric MMtpy. Its key shareholders are National Iranian Oil Co. and Oil Industry Pension, Saving and Staff Welfare Fund.
Gazprom has signed several gas MOUs with Iran.
Western sanctions. Production of LNG requires a technology heavily patented by US companies, which cannot be provided to Iran due to Western sanctions. Foreign companies are also banned from developing any LNG project in Iran due to the same sanctions.
Iran previously proposed three liquefaction projects—Pars LNG, Persian LNG and NIOC/Iran LNG—but was forced to abandon them after investors, including Total and Shell, dropped out of the projects in response to the sanctions.
Gazprom is already a major player in the global LNG market. At present, the company supplies LNG to a number of countries: Japan, South Korea, China, India, Taiwan, Britain, the US, Kuwait, the UAE and Mexico, among others.
The company's only operational LNG project is Sakhalin II, which has a capacity of 9.6 metric MMtpy and was built in 2009 in cooperation with Shell. A second, planned liquefaction project is Baltic LNG, which the Russian company is planning to develop with Shell.
The technicalities through which Gazprom would cooperate with Iran over production of LNG without violating US sanctions are unknown.
Possible gas processing projects. Gazprom also said it has signed another basic agreement with Industrial Development & Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO) for joint gas liquefaction projects in third countries. The agreement also describes projects in the field of advanced gas processing in Iran.
Iran has been in discussions with Oman for the offshore production of LNG at its Qalhat liquefaction plant. The project would involve piping gas from southern Iran to Oman, where it would be liquefied for shipment to international markets.
The project has been awarded to Norway’s Hemla Vantage, which would build the plant on a vessel close to Kharg Island. It would begin operations over the next 2 yr.
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