CNOOC Confirms Arctic LNG 2 Set For Launch This Year

• Arctic LNG 2, developed by Novatek, is set to initiate production this year with significant backing from stakeholders including CNOOC, CNPC, and TotalEnergies.
• The project, expecting to produce 20 million tonnes of LNG annually, plans to reach its full capacity by 2026.
• Novatek commits to delivering 2 million tons of LNG from this project to Japan, reinforcing the strategic partnership and market dynamics.

Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project is on track to begin first production later this year, one of the minority shareholders, China’s CNOOC, said on Friday.

“So far all the partners...have been financing the project as per normal. None is delaying in funding it. The project is thus proceeding as planned,” CNOOC’s chief financial officer Xie Weizhi told an earnings briefing in Hong Kong, as carried by Reuters. 

Arctic LNG 2 is developed by Novatek, Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer, which holds a 60% stake in the LNG export project. The other shareholders include CNOOC of China and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), French supermajor TotalEnergies, and Japanese firms Mitsui Group and Jogmec.  

Arctic LNG 2 was planned to be up and running by 2023, reaching full capacity by 2026. The project is expected to produce 20 million tonnes of LNG annually. 

Arctic LNG 2 production will be delivered to international markets by a fleet of ice-class LNG carriers that will be able to use the Northern Sea Route and the transshipment terminal in Kamchatka for cargoes destined for Asia and the transshipment terminal close to Murmansk for cargoes destined for Europe. 

Novatek’s deputy chairman Eduard Gudkov told a Russian energy forum in June that the company plans to launch its Arctic LNG 2 project at the end of 2023 or in early 2024. 

Novatek’s chief executive Leonid Mikhelson said last month that “We are going to meet the deadlines of the first line’s launch, scheduled for 2023.” 

Novatek also plans to deliver 2 million tons of LNG to Japan from the project, Mikhelson was quoted as saying by Russian news agency TASS.

“Unlike Yamal LNG, the Arctic LNG 2 project envisages that the liquefied natural gas is marketed by partners, [depending on their] share in the project. The Japanese side holds 10% in the project, which amounts to two million tons. They will certainly be delivered to the Japanese market,” he said. 

By Josh Owens for Oilprice.com

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