Japanese MOL Bags Yamal Charter Contract

Japanese MOL has signed a long-term charter contract for four LNG carriers with the tank capacity of 174,000m³, which will be delivered and serve on Yamal LNG project in 2019 and 2020 onwards, it said June 29.

The four contracted carriers will serve as a transport of LNG transshipped by the project from Europe. To economise on winterised vessels, LNG will be taken in winter to Zeebrugge and stored for reshipping and onward transport. First LNG is expected late this year.

Yamal LNG is an integrated project encompassing natural gas production, liquefaction and shipping. The project consists of construction of a LNG plant with an output capacity of around 16.5mn mt/yr, using the South Tambei field as a resource base.

The project is operated by Yamal LNG, a joint-venture of Novatek (50.1%), Total (20%), CNPC (20%) and China's Silk Road Fund (9.9%). It is based on the Yamal Peninsula, deep in the Russian Arctic.  

Shardul Sharma