Novatek sells Yamal LNG stake to China’s Silk Road Fund

Russia’s Novatek said it has concluded a framework agreement with China’s Silk Road Fund on the acquisition of a 9.9% equity stake in the Yamal LNG project.

The deal, which is scheduled to close after the satisfaction of stipulated conditions precedent, was signed  in the presence of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and the President of China Xi Jinping, Novatek said in a statement on Thursday.

Following the completion of the deal, Novatek will own 50.1% stake in Yamal LNG, Total and CNPC will hold 20% each, while SRF will have a 9.9% stake in the Arctic LNG project.

“We consider Yamal LNG to be one of the most prospective and competitive LNG projects in the world. Such observation supports our interest in becoming its shareholder. We hope our entrance into the project will facilitate an expedited closing of the project’s general external financing, as well as contribute to further development of the Chinese-Russian cooperation in the energy sector,” President of SRF, Wang Yanzhi said.

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.

LNG World News Staff; Image: Novatek