Page 4 - FSUOGM Week 29 2021

FSUOGM COMMENTARY FSUOGM

Novatek sets up carbon-

cutting team

The committee will review Novatek’s business operations and make recommendations

on the company’s strategy on climate and decarbonisation issues

RUSSIA RUSSIA’S Novatek has put together a team Harnessing the wind and the underground
of its directors to look at ways of tackling its Among Novatek’s plan is a scheme to generate
WHAT: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, even while wind power on the Yamal Peninsula, where its
Novatek has created it pursues a rapid expansion in its liquefaction Yamal LNG facility is located. Average wind
a sub-committee on capacity. speeds there are estimated to be as high as
climate and alternative Novatek like other Russian oil and gas com- around seven metres per second, thanks to the
energy. panies is paying closer attention to its environ- lack of trees.
mental social and governance (ESG) score than Kommersant reported in June that Novatek
WHY: ever before, amid increased climate conscious- was looking to establish a 200-MW wind farm
The company is paying ness among investors. Besides setting 2030 tar- on the peninsula, at a cost of RUBA12-14bn
closer attention to its ESG gets for reducing its emissions, the company is ($166-194mn). Danish developer Vestas is
score than ever before. drawing up plans for a number of green projects, tipped as the most likely company to win the
ranging from wind farms on Yamal to hydro- construction contract. It is estimated that the
WHAT NEXT: gen-fired power turbines to carbon capture and facility would reduce Yamal LNG’s CO2 emis-
Novatek has plans for storage (CCS). sions by 240,000-260,000 tonnes per year (tpy).
a range of low-carbon Novatek’s directors approved last week the Novatek also recently proposed reconfigur-
technologies in the creation of a special six-member steering com- ing its Obsk LNG plant to produce clean hydro-
Russian Arctic, including mittee on climate and alternative energy. The gen, methanol and ammonia from natural gas.
wind power, hydrogen committee includes several Novatek directors The hydrogen could then be used as a power
fuel use, ammonia and and is chaired by Dominique Marion, an inde- source for its facilities, while the methanol and
methanol production pendent director with a background in geology ammonia could be shipped overseas. No final
and carbon capture and that currently works as vice-president of France’s investment decision (FID) has been taken on
storage. TotalEnergies, one of Novatek’s shareholders. this plan, though, and NewsBase understands
The committee will review Novatek’s business that Obsk LNG might still produce LNG as well,
operations and make recommendations on the though in smaller quantities.
company’s strategy on climate and decarbon- In order to make these fuels from gas cleanly,
isation issues, including the use of renewable though, CCS must be available. Novatek has
energy sources and the potential for producing undertaken studies over the past year on suit-
low-carbon fuels such as hydrogen. able locations for CCS in Russia’s far north,
but impeding progress is the fact that Russia’s

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 29 21•July•2021