Novatek, China’s Silk Road Fund ink Yamal LNG deals

Russia’s Novatek said on Thursday it has signed definitive agreements for the sale of a 9.9% equity stake in the $27 billion Yamal LNG project to China’s Silk Road Fund (SRF).

The two companies also inked a deal under which SRF will provide a 15-year loan to Novatek worth about 730 million euros ($792 million) for the financing of the Artic LNG project. The larger part of the loan has been disbursed to Yamal LNG, Novatek said in a statement.

Chairman of the Management Board of Novatek, Leonid V. Mikhelson said that the signing of the binding agreements is “another important step in the execution of the company’s long-term development strategy“.

“With the closure of this transaction we will achieve the appropriate target shareholder structure, which will contribute to the planned financing of the project and further facilitate its successful implementation,” Mikhelson added.

Yamal LNG project includes the construction of a liquefaction plant with annual capacity of 16.5 million tons per annum based on the feedstock resources of the South-Tambeyskoye field. The production from the LNG project is scheduled to start in 2017.

Novatek now owns a 50.1% stake in the LNG project, while France’s Total and China’s CNPC hold 20% each.

LNG World News Staff