Novatek reportedly starts up Arctic LNG-2's second train

Russia’s Novatek has commissioned the second liquefaction train at its Arctic LNG-2 project, Reuters and Bloomberg reported on May 20, citing sources familiar with the development. The milestone has allegedly been reached despite the fact that Arctic LNG-2’s first train has yet to ship a single cargo since it completed commissioning nearly a year and a half ago, because of sanctions restricting its access to vessels necessary to traverse Russia’s Arctic waters and preventing it from finding buyers.

Novatek attempted to launch export operations at Arctic LNG-2’s first train in the summer of last year, with the use of a small shadow fleet of conventional LNG carriers. But it failed, and shut down the plant for the winter. In February 2025, Europe’s Sentinel-2 satellites detected short-term flaring at the Arctic LNG-2 site, potentially indicating maintenance or a limited restart of operations. Subsequent satellite images suggested some output was resumed at the end of March.

Situated on the Gydan Peninsula in Russia’s far north, Arctic LNG-2’s three trains have a combined capacity of 20mn tonnes per year (tpy), which was expected to be reached by the end of 2026. However, crippling Western sanctions prevented the completion of some work on the project and the supply of critical equipment and technology. Novatek was nevertheless able to complete the first train, as most equipment and technology from Western providers had already been installed or arrived in Russia when the sanctions were imposed.

Novatek operates Arctic LNG-2 with a 60% stake, while its partners are TotalEnergies and China’s CNPC and CNOOC, each with shares of 10%, and Japan’s Jogmec and Mitsui, with 7.5% and 2.5% respectively.

Russian officials and businessmen have been cautiously optimistic about the prospect of US sanctions easing if an agreement is reached to end the conflict in Ukraine. Reuters reported in December that Novatek had engaged lobbyists to try and restore relations with Washington, in light of the Trump administration taking office the following month. 

Besides the Arctic LNG-2 project itself, Novatek is also subject to sectoral sanctions, and restrictions have also been placed on floating storage units (FSUs) in northwest Russia and the Far East, which the company had intended to use to facilitate shipments from the plant, as well as Arc7 ice-class LNG tankers under construction at Russia’s Zvezda shipment, and conventional carriers suspected of trying to transport cargoes from the site last summer.