Rosneft Delivers 1st LNG to Egypt

Russian state oil giant Rosneft delivered its first LNG shipment under its subsidiary Rosneft Trading's contract with Egyptian Natural Gas Holding (Egas). The cargo was delivered by the tanker Golar Ice to the port of Ain Sukhna under the Master LNG Supply and Purchase Agreement signed in August 2015.

Rosneft said May 6 this was the first LNG cargo it had ever delivered; it was not immediately clear from which company it had procured the cargo, but Rosneft confirmed it had been bought on a spot basis. Unlike Gazprom which both produces and trades LNG, Rosneft does not produce LNG.

"The combination of Rosneft group’s spot and long-term contracts will allow maximizing the economic efficiency of its deals whilst guaranteeing a stable LNG-marketing outlet," said Rosneft in its statement.

Gazprom, which has a controlling interest in the Sakhalin Energy LNG export venture in Russia's Far East, lost its monopoly to export LNG from Russia in late 2013; now Russian gas independent Novatek, with Total, Chinese CNPC and Silk Road Fund, is developing the Yamal LNG project in Siberia.

Egypt - through Egas - imported 2.6mn mt of LNG in 2015 representing 1% of world trade.

Mark Smedley