OREANDA-NEWS. June 01, 2009. On 28 May the scientific and practical seminar “Development of Major Energy and Transportation Projects (International Experience in LNG Projects)” took place at SCF Group’s Moscow office, on the initiative of Sovcomflot, with the support of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Wood Mackenzie.

The seminar was attended by senior executives and representatives from the key ministries of the Russian Federation, Russian and international oil and gas companies, shipbuilding organizations, other companies and financial institutions.

In his welcoming address, Sergey Naryshkin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SCF Group and Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, underlined the importance of attending the seminar to the delegates from government and commerce that are to implement complex infrastructural projects related to the development of Russia’s offshore energy resources. Referring to international practice, the Chairman noted that the expansion of new technologies, in developing energy resources, is first and foremost an accelerator of the country’s development as a whole. It supports the progress of a number of interlinked industries, such as oil and gas, shipbuilding and transport.

The development of LNG technologies is a key element of the Russian Federation’s Energy Strategy for the period to 2020. This strategy already anticipates Russia’s entry the global LNG markets in 2010-2020, and already some steps to this end have been taken. Russia’s first industrial LNG plant was launched in Sakhalin Island (Sakhalin-2 Project) in February 2009. It enabled the exportation of gas to begin to new markets in the Pacific, previously inaccessible to Russian companies. Sovcomflot has mastered the technology of LNG seaborne transportation. The country’s ship builders are now seriously considering the possibility of building LNG tankers in Russia, which will be capable of operating in the harsh conditions of the Arctic and Far-Eastern seas.

The seminar participants acknowledged the discussion as extremely useful, in view of the future implementation of Russia’s complex offshore energy projects.