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Engie offloads 10% stake in

LNG containment firm GTT

INVESTMENT FRENCH energy group Engie reported on May strategic plan towards simplifying the group and
26 it had shed a 10% stake in LNG tech firm GTT its investor proposition through existing non-
for €290mn ($355mn). core activities,” Engie CEO Catherine MacGre-
The company has sold 3.7mn shares in GTT, gor commented. “GTT is an innovative and high
which designs and supplies LNG containment performing business, and as a major shareholder
systems for LNG carriers and LNG import, Engie has benefited from GTT’s continuing
export and terminals across the world. The sale strong growth over the years.”
was made through an accelerated bookbuild Engie has been left with a 30% holding in
process at a price of €67 per share. GTT, of which 10% represents the exchange-
Simultaneously, Engie has also issued an able bond. GTT said its board of directors
exchange bond into existing ordinary shares of would be altered to reflect Engie’s diminished
GTT for a nominal €290mn in total. The bond ownership.
has a zero coupon rate and has a maturity of three Engie already scaled back its LNG activities
years, with a premium exchange rate of 20% ver- considerably in 2017 when it sold its stakes in liq-
sus the placement price of the GTT shares that uefaction plants, an LNG tanker fleet and access
have been sold. to regasification capacities in Europe to Total for
GTT bought back around 185,400 of the $1.5bn. The company is looking to withdraw
shares, also at a price of €67 apiece. from other fossil fuel businesses as well while
“Today’s announcement is in line with Engie’s expanding in renewables.™

Arctic LNG-2 to reach full

capacity one year early

PERFORMANCE RUSSIA’S Novatek expects its flagship Arctic Novatek likely wants to bring Arctic LNG-2
LNG-2 project to reach full capacity in 2025, up to full capacity sooner because of the expec-
one year earlier than anticipated, CEO Leonid tation that the global LNG market will become
Mikhelson announced in a meeting with Rus- bullish by the mid-2020s, thanks to demand
sian President Vladimir Putin on May 17. growth in Asia and project delays caused by the
The project, which involves the construction coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Norwe-
of three liquefaction trains capable of produc- gian consultancy Rystad Energy estimates that
ing nearly 20mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG 9mn tpy of LNG supply previously predicted to
combined, was reported as 39% complete at the join the market between 2026 and 2030 will no
end of March. Its first train was said to be 53% longer do so, potentially creating a deficit.
complete. Its first and second trains will come Russia currently has two large-scale lique-
on stream in 2023 and 2024 respectively as orig- faction plants – the Gazprom-operated 11mn
inally planned, Mikhelson told Putin, but the tpy Sakhalin LNG plant and the 17mn tpy
third train is now anticipated to be up and run- Yamal LNG facility developed by Novatek. The
ning in 2025. country’s LNG strategy lists a large number of
Russia approved a strategy for accelerating projects in the pipeline, although notable ones
development of its LNG sector in March, target- expected on stream in the next few years also
ing output of up to 140mn tpy by 2035. Novatek include Gazprom’s 11mn tpy plant on the Bal-
will contribute 64mn tpy of this supply by 2030, tic Sea, Novatek 5-6mn tpy Obsk LNG on the
Mikhelson, who is also a major shareholder of Gydan Peninsula and Rosneft’s 6.2mn tpy pro-
the gas producer, told the Russian president. ject in the Far East.™

Week 21 28•May•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11