Major Russian Gas Producer Novatek Mulls Building 3rd LNG Plant - CEO

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) - Novatek may launch the first train at its third LNG plant a year after the full launch of Arctic LNG 2 project, company's CEO Leonid Mikhelson said Tuesday. "First of all, the Arctic LNG 2 will be fully launched. And I think that as early as a year after we will launch the next one [LNG plant]", Mikhelson said on the sidelines of the 5th International Arctic Forum in St. Petersburg. According to Mikhelson, the exact dates will depend on the construction schedule of the platforms on the Novatek-Murmansk project. Approximately, it will take 1.5 years to build one platform, and as soon as one of the dry docks is released, the next construction begins on it. "We are building capacities in Murmansk. You know, there are two dry docks there. We start casting the first platform in July, we will commission the second dock in the second quarter of next year [2020], and we will be [casting] the second [platform]. Now let's see in what time we can do it […] We have indicated that we are launching the first line [of Arctic LNG 2] in 2022-2023", the Novatek chief said. Arctic LNG 2, located offshore near the remote Gydan Peninsula in northwestern Siberia, is Novatek's second large-scale LNG project. It will have three production lines with a total annual capacity of 19.8 million tonnes. Gas will be extracted from the Utrenneye field, estimated to hold 69.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 105 million tonnes of liquids. Founded in 1994, Novatek has recently become one of Russia's largest gas producers. Back in 2017 it successfully entered the global gas market by launching the Yamal LNG project. The company's activities are mainly concentrated in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region in Russia's Far North. It is the world’s largest natural gas producing area and accounts for nearly 80 percent of Russia’s natural gas production. Read more: https://sputniknews.com/business/201904101073975514-russia-novatek-lng-project/