Page 13 - FSUOGM Week 36

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM

Russia's Zvezda
shipyard.

Arctic LNG-2 secures financing

for entire LNG tanker fleet

RUSSIA RUSSIA’S Novatek has now secured all the Russia has never before built LNGCs, with all
financing it needs to develop a fleet of tankers the vessels that service Novatek’s existing Yamal
Arctic LNG-2 now has to carry gas from its $21bn Arctic LNG-2 pro- LNG plant engineered in South Korea. Zvezda –
also financing and ject. The vessels will be the first of their kind to run by a consortium of state-owned companies
leasing arrangements in be built in Russia, at the Zvezda shipyard in the Rosneft, Rosneftegaz and Gazprombank – is to
place for a fleet of gas Far East. play a key role in developing Russia’s shipbuild-
carriers. The agreement was signed between Smart ing capability and reducing the country's reli-
LNG, Novatek’s joint venture with state ship- ance on foreign yards. In addition to LNGCs,
owner Sovcomflot, and state development bank Zvezda is also set to build dozens of oil tankers
VEB.RF. It covers the construction of 10 Arc7 and other cargo ships over the coming years.
ice-breaking LNG carriers (LNGC). Novatek Changes to Russia’s merchant shipping code
also struck a deal on chartering 14 vessels. have banned the use of foreign-flagged and for-
These two agreements mean Novatek now eign-built vessels to transport oil and gas along
has financing, construction and chartering the country’s Arctic Northern Sea Route (NSR).
contracts in place for Arctic LNG-2’s entire However, Novatek has raised concerns that this
15-strong tanker fleet. It arranged all necessary restriction will slow the pace of its development
contracts for a first, pilot vessel in October last plans.
year, and went on to secure financing for four The company managed to secure an exemp-
more in February, without arranging chartering. tion for Yamal LNG’s 15 LNGCs. And while all
The Arctic LNG-2 project consists of three Arctic LNG-2’s tankers are due to come from
liquefaction trains each capable of producing Zvezda, it has obtained a similar exemption for
6.6mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG. The first the 10 ships it plans to order for another of its
is due on stream in 2023, while the second and upcoming LNG projects, Obsk LNG. A final
third are slated to begin operations in 2024 and investment decision (FID) on Obsk LNG was
2026. That means Zvezda has over three years to expected by mid-2020 but has been delayed in
deliver the first LNGC and six to supply the last. light of the market collapse. ™

Week 36 09•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13