PAO NOVATEK announced that its joint venture Arctic LNG 2 (“Arctic LNG 2” and/or the “Project”) entered into long-term charter agreements on 14 Arc7 ice-class LNG tankers with SMART LNG (a joint venture between NOVATEK and PAO Sovcomflot), with the construction of the LNG tankers to be built at the Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex. The signing of the charter agreements allowed SMART LNG to conclude the corresponding contracts with the VEB.RF Group and Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex LLC for the construction and lease financing of these vessels.
In October 2019, the contracts for chartering, financing and construction of a pilot ice-class LNG tanker to be built at the Zvezda shipyard were signed. Earlier, the participants of Arctic LNG 2 (NOVATEK, TOTAL, CNPC, CNOOC, and the consortium of Mitsui and JOGMEC) in accordance with the Projects’ Sea Transportation Strategy, approved the construction of 15 Arc7 ice-class LNG tankers at Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex.
The construction of 15 state-of-the-art ice-class gas tankers ensures the core formation of the Arctic fleet for the Project that will allow the year round transport of LNG along the Northern Sea Route to the Asian Pacific region, and provide an important stimulus to develop the Russian shipbuilding industry.
Note
Arctic LNG 2 envisages constructing three LNG liquefaction trains of 6.6 million tons per annum each, as well as cumulative gas condensate production capacity of 1.6 million tons per annum. The total LNG capacity of the three liquefaction trains will be 19.8 million tons. The Project utilizes an innovative construction concept using gravity-based structure (GBS) platforms to reduce overall capital cost and minimize the Project’s environmental footprint in the Arctic zone of Russia.
The Project’s participants include: NOVATEK (60%), TOTAL (10%), CNPC (10%), CNOOC (10%) and the consortium of Mitsui and JOGMEC (10%).
