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Venezuela's long-incubating plans for developing an LNG industry are prone to surprising shifts. The latest came last week when President Hugo Chavez, during a trip to Moscow, invited Gazprom to enter the Deltana Platform and Mariscal Sucre LNG projects. The last time Mariscal Sucre surfaced, it had morphed from an LNG-only to a domestic gas-only scheme. Now it seems to be a combination, with planning geared toward a single liquefaction plant to serve both it and the Deltana Platform.
The Russian state company said it was also offered participation in Venezuela's Cigma industrial project, which includes a liquefaction plant to be located in Guiria, in the northeastern state of Sucre. This plant has been associated with Deltana Platform LNG, but might now take Mariscal feedgas as well, WGI understands (WGI Oct.31,p4).
Gazprom has been developing gas in Venezuela for the domestic market since 2005, but last week's invitation would expand its presence for the first time into exports, as Venezuela struggles to...