Novatek working on clarifying timeframe for launching, means of financing Arctic LNG 2

MOSCOW. April 21 (Interfax) - Novatek , amid the unprecedented challenges, is working on clarifying the timeframe for launching as well as the overall configuration of the Arctic LNG 2 project, the company's CEO, Leonid Mikhelson, said at the annual meeting, noting that it was difficult to confirm the previously announced deadlines for the project.

The company is developing new approaches to financing Arctic LNG 2. Although current challenges complicate the conditions for successfully implementing the project, Novatek is making every effort to achieve this.

Progress on the first stage of Arctic LNG 2 is currently at 85%, and the project as a whole is at 65%.

The $21.3-billion project envisages constructing three stages for producing liquefied natural gas at a capacity of 6.6 million tonnes per year, each on gravity-type bases, on which LNG modules will be installed. The platforms will be moved from Murmansk to the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (YNAD), and they will be used near the project's resource base at the Salmanovskoye field on the Gydan Peninsula.

Novatek has a 60% stake in Arctic LNG 2. The remaining shareholders are France's TotalEnergies , China's CNPC and CNOOC, as well as a consortium of Japan's Mitsui and JOGMEC, each with a 10% stake.