FSUOGM: Novatek says Arctic LNG-2 remains on track for 2023 launch

The first train at Novatek’s 20mn tonne per year (tpy) Arctic LNG-2 project is still on track to start up in December next year, while the second and third trains should come online in 2024 and 2026 as initially planned, a project director told reporters on December 12.

There have been heightened concerns about whether the timeframe for Arctic LNG-2’s development will be revised in light of Western sanctions and other fallout from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, although Novatek and Russian authorities have insisted that there are no changes to the existing plan.

“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. “[The second and third stages] – in 2024 and 2026. We are not reconsidering [deadlines].”

One of the key buyers of Arctic LNG-2’s gas will be Japan, which is set to receive 2mn tpy from the facility.

“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,” Russian Ambassador to Tokyo Mikhail Galuzin said this month. Russia and Japan have areas “for mutually beneficial co-operation,” including the energy sphere, he said.

Overall supplies from Russia to Japan will reach 5-6mn tpy following Arctic LNG-2’s launch, according to Galuzin.

Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson said in October that Arctic LNG-2 had reached 70% completion.

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