Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Murmansk opened the first phase of Arctic LNG 2, a giant liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Arctic, from which the French company TotalEnergies exited in 2022, writes AFP.
“The order for transportation of the first technological line of the LNG plant is already ready. I am asking for permission to start sea transport operations,” said the operator at the launch ceremony, which was broadcast on Russian television.
“Permission,” Putin replied, pulling the lever together with the head of the giant Novatek, Leonid Mikhelson.
The project is valued at $21 billion and is located on the Gidan Peninsula, about 30 kilometers from the first giant LNG plant on the Yamal Peninsula, which was commissioned in 2017.
The project is expected to achieve a production capacity of 19.8 million tons of LNG per year through three production lines, drawing on the rich Utrenye gas field nearby.
After the start of the Russian offensive on Ukraine, the French company TotalEnergies announced in 2022 that it would stop financing Arctic LNG 2, in which Novatek owns 60% of the shares together with China’s CNPC and CNOOC and Japan’s Japan Arctic LNG.
Arctic LNG 2 is one of the key projects in Russia’s planned operation of the Northern Sea Route, which connects Asia with Europe.
Moscow hopes that this Arctic route, made viable by global warming and melting ice, will be able to compete with the Suez Canal in hydrocarbon trade in the future.
Source: Hot News
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