Doris Leblond
OGJ Correspondent
PARIS, May 16 -- In what is considered its first venture into North America, Gazprom Marketing & Trading USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Russia's OAO Gazprom, is set to import Russian LNG supplied from the Shtokman liquefication project, which is due on stream in 2014. The LNG will supply the entire capacity of the Rabaska LNG terminal, to be built in Levis, Que., and also due on stream in 2014.
A letter of intent was signed between Gazprom M&T and the Rabasca partners: Canada's Gaz Metro and Enbridge Inc. and and Gaz de France, which has been involved in the Rabasca terminal project since 2004. The agreement outlines that Gazprom M&T will become an equity partner in the proposed $840 million Rabasca LNG regasification project and contract for 100% of the import terminal's capacity.
Final agreements are expected to be signed by yearend.
The Shtokman gas and condensate field, discovered in 1988, lies in the central part of the Barents Sea, 450 km northeast of Murmansk. The Rabaska terminal is designed to receive, store, and regasify 500 MMcfd of gas and is intended to introduce a source of gas supply to the Quebec and eastern Ontario to fuel electric power generation.
