Novatek Needs $12bn for Yamal LNG: Report
Russia's largest independent gas producer Novatek plans to raise further $12bn in external financing for the Yamal LNG project, said Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson, according to a report in Russian daily newspaper Kommersant on April 25.
A sum of around $18bn-$19bn is needed, including funds already raised, Mikhelson was cited by Kommersant as saying. He said that the necessary financing will be raised in the near future, without giving any timeframe.
Yamal LNG has already attracted loans worth $4bn (€3.6bn) from Sberbank and Gazprombank and $2.24bn from the National Wealth Fund (NWF), Kommersant reported. It is assumed that Chinese banks will allocate around $12bn for Yamal LNG, the report added.
Novatek shareholders approved agreements to borrow from Sberbank and Gazprombank at their annual general meeting on April 22. The project provides for the construction of an LNG plant with a capacity of 16.5m metric tons per year, using gas from the Yuzhno-Tambeiskoye field.
The controlling shareholder of Yamal LNG is Novatek (50.1%), while other shareholders are French energy group Total (20%), and China's CNPC and Silk Road Fund (9.9%). As a Russian energy company, the operator cannot receive long-term dollar-denominated loans as the US has imposed sanctions on the country.
Novatek, Russia's second-largest gas producer after Gazprom and the country's seventh-largest crude producer, has increased natural gas output by 9.3% to 67.91bn m3 in 2015, beyond its earlier forecast of a 6% rise.
Murat Basboga