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Tanker joint venture serving Yamal LNG no longer under sanctions
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
The joint venture owns four specialised Arc7 vessels – or ice class carriers – with two more scheduled for delivery.
A joint venture that owns four tankers servic- ing the Yamal LNG project operated by Russia’s Novatek is no longer under US sanctions, one of the partners has con rmed.
Novatek had been concerned about potential setbacks caused by the US sanctions imposed on Chinese shipping company Cosco. Yamal, Novatek’s rst LNG plant, risks losing a third of its LNG tanker eet, as six specialised Arc7 ves- sels – or ice class carriers – are owned by the joint venture, TC LNG Shipping. e 50:50 joint ven- ture comprises China LNG Shipping and Teekay LNG. Four of the vessels are already in operation, and two more are being built.
Cosco Dalian was a 50% shareholder in China LNG Shipping – and while the latter was not listed by the US as being among the sanc- tioned companies, the former was on the list. is made China LNG Shipping a “blocked per- son” according to US law, owing to its connection with its parent company. However, Teekay said that Cosco had restructured the ownership of China LNG Shipping on arms-length terms, as a result of which the latter company was no longer classi ed as a “blocked person”.
e sanctions, imposed in response to Cos- co’s alleged handling of Iranian crude, caused shipping rates for both oil and LNG to more than double globally.
Previously the head of Novatek and Russia’s richest person according to Forbes, Leonid Mikhelson, dismissed the sanction risks and said that his company expected to have all of the remaining tankers delivered by the end of the year.
Novatek also risked losing another ve Arc7 tankers that are to be delivered by Dynagas. Cosco controls 25.5% in the company, which should exempt it from sanctions, but special cases might apply. Another three tankers were ordered from a 50:50 joint venture between Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and Shanghai LNG, another Cosco a liate.
Resolving the logistics issues surrounding LNG delivery is seen as crucial for Novatek to ramp up LNG shipments. Analysts told Vedo- mosti daily previously that about 30 tankers would be enough to handle all of the LNG that will be produced at Yamal LNG and Novatek’s newly approved Arctic LNG-2 project.
Novatek plans well trio at new Arctic field
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Novatek said Soletsko- Khanaveyskoye and the neighbouring Trekhbugorny and Gydansky areas would underpin its plan to develop another Gydan LNG project after Arctic LNG-2.
NOVATEK plans to sink three exploration wells at its recently acquired Soletsko-Khanaveyskoye eld on the Gydan Peninsula, according to a ten- der notice published on its website.
The company won rights to the Solet- sko-Khanaveysky block containing the eld in August, paying $39mn in a state contest. In ten- der notices for various work, it said the 470PO, 471R and 472R wells would be drilled in the area to a depth of 3,750 metres. eir aim will be to con rm the presence of hydrocarbons in shallow Valanzhin and deeper Achimov layers.
Soletsko-Khanaveyskoye was found in 1987 and the 6,000-square km block containing it has in-place resources of almost 2.2tn cubic metres of gas and 212mn tonnes of liquids. Announc- ing its win at auction, Novatek said the block and the neighbouring Trekhbugorny and Gydansky areas would underpin its plan to develop another Gydan LNG project a er Arctic LNG-2.
Work on the 470PO well is set to start in the rst half of 2020, with the drilling of 471R and 472R scheduled for between April and
September 2021, Novatek said. It may also sink an additional well, 140R, at Gydansky in the sec- ond half of next year.
Earlier this month Novatek also revealed in tender documents plans to restore a pair of Soviet-era exploration wells at the Geo zich- esky block on Gydan as well. It intends to use gas recovered from the wells to generate elec- tricity that can be used to power development facilities.
Novatek is Russia’s top LNG producer, through its majority stake in the 16.5mn tonne per year Yamal LNG plant launched in Decem- ber 2017. A nal investment decision (FID) on the 19.8mn tpy Arctic LNG-2 is already in place, with rst production expected in 2023. It also building a fourth 0.9mn tpy train at Yamal LNG, and intends to greenlight its 4.8mn tpy Obsk LNG plant in early 2020.
More projects are almost certain to be unveiled within the next year or two, as Novatek sets out to ramp up LNG production from its Arctic projects to as high as 70mn tpy by 2030.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 42 24•October•2019
