Russia's largest independent natural gas producer, Novatek, expects its recently added gas field licenses will provide enough gas to warrant the construction of a third large liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Russia, Novatek's chief executive Leonid Mikhelson said on Thursday.
Novatek will have "the necessary resource base for another LNG project of the size of Arctic LNG 2" from the three gas production licenses on the Gydan peninsula within two years, Mikhelson said, as carried by Reuters.
At the end of August, Novatek said it had won the auction for the geological survey, exploration, and production license for the subsoil area including the Soletsko-Khanaveyskoye field on the Gydan peninsula in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region. The license area has estimated hydrocarbon resources of 16 billion barrels of oil equivalent according to the Russian resource classification system, the company said.
The resources would be enough for a third LNG plant in Russia's north, Mikhelson said on Tokyo on Thursday.
While in Tokyo, Novatek's CEO signed a cooperation agreement with Mitsui and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), confirming the intention to build marine LNG transshipment complexes in the territory of Kamchatka and Murmansk region.
"The construction of the Kamchatka and Murmansk transshipment complexes will help to optimize logistics and maximize the efficiency of LNG deliveries from Yamal and Gydan to LNG key markets of the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, the largest global LNG consumer," Mikhelson said in a statement.
Novatek, which already exports LNG from the Yamal LNG plant, has just given the go-ahead to its second large LNG project, Arctic LNG 2 on the Gydan Peninsula.
In early September, the partners in the Arctic LNG 2 venture approved the final investment decision for the plant, whose first train is expected on line in 2023. Trains 2 and 3 are set to become operational in 2024 and 2026, respectively. Total capital expenditure (capex) to launch the project at full capacity is estimated at US$21.3 billion equivalent, Novatek said.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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