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LNG comes to Murmansk via Karelia

A planned LNG plant in Karelia will provide energy also to neighboring Murmansk.

The development of a LNG plant in Karelia is to help boost the level of gasification in Murmansk.

Location

Regional authorities in Murmansk long put their faith in the great Shtokman field in the Barents Sea as future source of heating and energy. Now, the first LNG appears to come to the region not from the north, but from the south.

The Karelian government last week announced that it is negotiating with Kriogaz, a company controlled by Gazpombank, over the construction of a regional LNG plant. The plant will have a capacity of 150,000 tons of LNG per year and is to be located in the Prionezhsky municipality, a press release from the company informs. It is estimated to cost 3 billion rubles and will be ready for operations in the course of 2016.

A part of the LNG is to be transported to Murmansk, where it will provide a new much-needed additional heating source. Murmansk Oblast is today one of Russia`s least gasificated regions and is highly dependent on expensive and polluting heavy oil (mazut) for heating.

According to Karelian Governor Aleksandr Khudilainen, the LNG is to be used both in regional industry and in households, Neftegaz.ru reports. 

Kriogaz was established in 1993 and has since been working extensively in Northwest Russia. The company is today owned by Gazprombank.