Amur gas plant begins commissioning its fifth processing train

Gazprom begins commissioning Amur GPP’s fifth train after the fourth entered operation in 2024. The six-train plant is designed to process 42 bcm of gas a year.

Fifth train enters commissioning

Gazprom has begun commissioning the fifth processing train at the Amur Gas Processing Plant near Svobodny, Russia. Chief executive Alexei Miller announced the work on 26 December 2024 during a year-end conference call. The fourth train entered operation in 2024; the fifth is undergoing startup work.

The completed plant is designed for six processing trains, each handling seven billion cubic metres of raw gas annually. Together, their design throughput is 42 billion cubic metres a year. Plant startup is coordinated with expansion of the Power of Siberia pipeline. These figures describe the planned installation, rather than measured annual production.

Pipeline connection and fifth-train commissioning announcements

A connection established in 2021

The plant's connection to Power of Siberia was announced on 4 May 2021. Four tie-ins joined the commercial-gas and feed-gas pipelines. Power of Siberia carries gas from Russia to China.

During that first-line commissioning campaign, feed gas reached the dehydration and treatment unit. Equipment at the ethane, natural-gas-liquids and nitrogen–helium mixture unit underwent functional testing. At the booster compressor stations, one Ladoga gas-pumping unit was prepared for gas reception and hot startup, while another underwent alignment and cold startup.

Gazprom company identity

Helium shipments preceded the latest expansion

Liquid helium from Amur already had a transport route to customers before the fifth-train announcement. In February 2024, Gazprom Helium Service announced regular deliveries of LNG and liquid helium across Far Eastern border crossings. Its liquefied natural gas came from small-capacity facilities in Primorye Territory and Amur Region; its liquid helium came from Amur GPP. The two products had different production origins.

The company reported more than 50 containers of liquefied gases transported in January 2024 over routes of 250–2,000 kilometres. That transport total covers liquefied gases, not exclusively Amur helium. Its fleet comprised 73 LNG-powered Kamaz trucks. Helium travelled in customers' isothermal containers; LNG went into company cryogenic containers or customers' tanks. Gazprom separately reported 110 containers holding more than 470 tonnes of liquid helium shipped from Amur since September 2023. Those cumulative figures were available in February 2024.

Processing and separated products

Amur separates and purifies gas by cooling it close to liquefaction temperature. Its product range includes natural gas and helium alongside hydrocarbon components:

Ethane.
Propane and butane.
Pentane–hexane fractions.

Gazprom Pererabotka Blagoveshchensk was the project's investor and customer in the 2021 commissioning account. NIPIGAS, part of SIBUR, was the general contractor.