OREANDA-NEWS  The operator of the construction and operation of the Amur Gas Processing Plant, Gazprom Pererabotka Blagoveshchensk LLC (part of the Gazprom Pererabotka Group), has filed a claim for damages in the amount of 85.733 billion rubles against companies of the Linde engineering group in Russia and abroad, according to the arbitration file.

The statement of claim was filed on October 29 in the Arbitration Court of the Amur region.

The direct defendants in the lawsuit are Linde PLC, Linde GmbH, Linde INC, Linde Gas & Equipment INC, Linde Russia UK Limited, Linde Uk Holdings No.2 Limited and Commercium Immobilien-Und Beteiligungs-GmbH.

Praxair Volgograd LLC, Cryostar Rus LLC, Linde Gas Rus JSC, Linde Uraltehgaz JSC, Linde Gas Lipetsk LLC, Linde Engineering Rus LLC, Praxea Rus LLC, Linde Gas Novotroritsk LLC and Gazprom LLC were involved as third parties Linde Engineering".

During the commissioning work on the equipment designed and supplied by the German company, the same gas leaks occurred with a fire: on the second technological line - in October 2021, on the first - in January 2022. Three months after the second fire, in March, Linde announced the suspension of projects in Russia.

In the summer of 2023, Gazprom put into operation two lines: No. 1 (restored after a fire) and No. 3 (new). In December 2023, the launch of Line No. 2, which was most damaged by fire, was announced.

The Amur gas Processing Plant is located near the city of Svobodny in the Amur region. It will become one of the largest natural gas processing enterprises in the world. The design capacity of the plant for raw materials is 42 billion cubic meters per year. It will include six lines of 7 billion cubic meters of raw gas per year each. The commissioning of the plant's lines is synchronized with the growth of gas transportation volumes through the Power of Siberia.