The recently created Nova Energies joint venture between Paris-based Technip Energies and Russian engineering, procurement and construction management player Nipigaz has reported its first contract award in Russia.
The company said it has signed a preliminary front-end engineering design contract with Russia's largest petrochemical conglomerate Sibur to study the technical and economic feasibility of proposed potential carbon capture solutions for Sibur’s subsidiary Zapsibneftekhim.
The Nova Energies contract includes technology and development of optimal technical solutions, along with a cost estimate for capturing, transporting and utilizing carbon dioxide from Zapsibneftekhim.
The scope of research includes the nearby Tobolsk gas-fired power and heating facility, which is the sole supplier of steam for the plant.
The facility also delivers heating for housing and social facilities to the West Siberian city of Tobolsk and surrounding areas.
Nova Energies did not disclose the value of the contract award or when it is scheduled to complete the assessment.
Zapsibneftekhim operates country’s most modern petrochemical and polymer plant, which was commissioned in 2020 to handle condensate and hydrocarbon liquids delivered from a major processing facility operated by country’s largest gas independent, Novatek.
Using the pyrolysis treatment, Zapsibneftekhim converts these liquids into ethylene and propylene that are used in the production of polymers.
Novatek connection
Novatek’s core shareholders, Russian businessmen Leonid Mikhelson and Gennady Timchenko, also hold sizeable stakes in both Sibur and Nipigaz, with Nipigaz having a long history of providing engineering and design services to Sibur and state controlled gas monopoly Gazprom.
Novatek has been leading Russian efforts to introduce carbon capture and storage at its gas fields in West Siberia, as it acknowledges the requirements of its international customers to gain access to liquefied natural gas with zero carbon footprint.
The Russian gas independent reported a 3% growth in its own liquids output to almost 251,000 barrels per day between January and September this year against the same period of 2020.
Novatek has also received additional barrels of condensate for processing from Gazprom in the third quarter after a major fire destroyed a condensate train at a Gazprom facility near the West Siberian city of Novy Urengoy in August.
Novatek also said that its own gas production increased by more than 4% to over 59 billion cubic metres between January and September this year compared with the same period last year.
However, Novatek-administered sales of LNG on international spot markets, mostly in Europe, dropped to an equivalent of 1.7 Bcm in the third quarter.
All additional cargoes from the Novatek-led Yamal LNG plant in West Siberia, working well above its nameplate capacity, had been sent to the Asia Pacific region under long-term agreements signed several years ago to help fund the project.
