Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, May 3 -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co., set up jointly by Royal Dutch/Shell, Mitsui & Co., and Mitsubishi Corp., is reported to have found buyers for all projected output of LNG from the Sakhalin II project off Russia's east coast.
Sakhalin Energy in April briefed the Russian government about progress in finding buyers. After the meeting Russia's Energy Ministry issued a statement saying "there are contracts for 98% of the output."
LNG will be supplied from Sakhalin Energy's 9.6-million tonne/year LNG plant under construction at Prigorodnoye at Aniva Bay in the south of the island.
The plant, Russia's first, will have two trains, each with a capacity of 4.8 million tonnes/year. First shipments will begin in summer 2008.
Talks with Chubu Electric Power Co. and Osaka Gas Co. are said to be entering final stages. The firms expect to have contracts in place for the nearly all the 9.6 million tonnes/year of capacity.
Earlier, on Apr. 20, Hiroshima Gas signed a full sales and purchase agreement (SPA) to buy 210,000 tonnes/year for 20 years.
Hiroshima Gas will use a new ice-class LNG vessel to transport the LNG to its receiving terminal in Hatsukaichi.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected]