Page 105 - RusRPTApr19

9.2 Major corporate news 9.2.1 Oil & gas corporate news
● Gazprom
Russiam development bank Vneshekonombank (VEB.RF) will grant €1.5bn for up to 15 years for the construction of the Amur gas processing complex (Amursky GPZ) of state-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom, the bank said in a statement, as cited by Reuters on March 26. This is less than 10% of the budget for the project of €18.9bn. About €5.2bn will be provided by Gazprom, while another €10.8bn are planned to be raised from a syndicate of Russian, Chinese, and European investors. Amur is part of the Sila Sibiri (Power of Siberia) pipeline infrastructure, with planned throughput of 42bn cubic metres (cm) of gas annually and the first line to be launched in 2021. Previously Gazprom planned to raise $14bn project financing for the complex. As reported by bne IntelliNews, Gazprom will start filling the Power of Siberia natural gas pipeline that connects Russia to China from September 1. Gazprom and Chinese CNPC signed a contract worth $400bn to supply China with gas via the pipeline in 2014.
● Novatek
Russian independent gas producer Novatek may begin construction of a terminal for transshipment and storage of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on the Kamchatka Peninsula in January–March 2020, as seen by PRIME on the government’s official website on March 20. The terminal will raise the Northern Sea Route’s traffic to 31.4mn tonnes until the end of 2026 from 9.7mn tonnes in 2017 and attract around 70bn rubles of private investment. Russia hopes the Northern Sea Route, which runs from Murmansk on the Barents Sea to the Bering Strait near Alaska, could substitute the Suez Canal by cutting the time of sea deliveries from Asia to Europe. According to the previous plans, the terminal’s first stage was to be launched in 2022.
Russia's second-largest natural gas producer and global liquefied natural gas (LNG) runner-up Novatek will be allowed to transport LNG via the Northern Sea Route using tankers not registered in Russia, Vedomosti daily said on March 18 citing the decree signed by the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. In 2018 Novatek established MAT, its own transportation subsidiary, (Morskoy Arktichesky Transport, or Sea Arctic Transport in English), to manage it’s fleet of tankers and icebreakers delivering LNG from its completed Yamal LNG plant and upcoming Arctic LNG-2. Resolving the logistics issues of LNG delivery was seen as crucial by the analysts to catch up with adding LNG output capacity by Novatek. Now the Sabetta port at the Yamal peninsula will now enjoy an exemption for transporting LNG ships of any provenance, with 28 vessels exempted from the rule by 2043, all of which had been or will be built by foreign shipyards. In 2014 Novatek has commissioned 15 Yamalmax-type icebreaker tanker for over $5bn at the South Korean DSME shipyard. The news could be a blow to Russian oil major Rosneft, which is behind the giant shipyard Zvezda being built in the Far East. Previously Novatek has signed an agreement with Zvezda on construction of 15 tankers, but withdrew from the deal, as the shipyard's pricing is 20% above the market, unnamed sources told Vedomosti daily. Analysts surveyed by the daily believe that the 30 tankers now allowed by the government to ship from Sabetta should be enough to handle all the LNG, which will be produced at
105 RUSSIA Country Report April 2019 www.intellinews.com