Novatek still targeting 2023 launch for Arctic LNG-2
The Arctic LNG-2 terminal in the Russian Arctic is still on track to produce its first gas in December next year as planned, despite headwinds from Western sanctions and other fallout from Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, an executive at project operator Novatek said on December 12.
Arctic LNG-2 is set to comprise three trains with a combined liquefaction capacity of close to 20mn metric tons/year. But there have been concerns that the project could run into difficulty given Western sanctions, and the withdrawal of various international partners, financiers, contractors and suppliers.
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France's TotalEnergies, which has a 10% stake in Arctic LNG-2, has said it will cease further investments in Russia. However, work on Arctic LNG-2's first train was already relatively advanced when Moscow launched its war in Ukraine.
“The goal is to launch … in December 2023,” the deputy general director for capital construction at Novatek’s Arctic LNG-2 subsidiary, Timofey Sazonov, told reporters, according to the TASS news agency. “[The second and third stages] – in 2024 and 2026. We are not reconsidering [deadlines]."
Japan has agreed to take 2mn mt/yr of LNG supply from Arctic LNG-2.
“This project is developing successfully. We hope that next year Japan will receive additional volumes of Russian LNG, in addition to what is already supplied from Sakhalin-2,” Russia's ambassador to Tokyo Mikhail Galuzin said this month. Russia and Japan have areas “for mutually beneficial cooperation,” including the energy sphere, he said.