MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belarus's state-owned petrochemicals firm said it was in talks to receive natural gas from Rosneft, as the world's largest listed crude producer tries to expand its gas business, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Belneftekhim said its CEO, Igor Zhilin, has held talks with Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin on potential gas supplies for Belarusian refineries, as well as oil deliveries.
Gazprom is the only Russian firm allowed by law to export gas. The government is planning to allow other producers to export liquefied natural gas, but not gas via pipelines. Belarus receives its gas from neighboring Russia via a pipeline.
Rosneft has set out an ambitious plan to increase its share of the domestic gas market, currently dominated by Gazprom, as well as building an LNG plant to export to Asia.
As MRC informed previously, in May 2013, Rosneft and Mitsui signed an agreement to jointly develop the massive Far East Petrochemical Company (FEPCO) project. FEPCO, a subsidiary of Rosneft, is developing the project. Processing capacity of the petrochemical complex is planned at 3.4 million tpy of hydrocarbon feedstock, predominantly naphtha. The capacity of ethylene and propylene production unit is planned at 2 million tpy. The complex is expected to be started up in 2017.
MRC