Russian, Crimean Ports Given International Status

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a Decree which confirms the international status of all Russian ports, including those residing in the territory of the Republic of Crimea.

Medvedev said that now border and customs procedures for arriving foreign vessels will be much more facilitated, eliminating the need for any additional permits and approvals. This will in turn help boost operation efficiency at the ports.

Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich added that over the past 25 years, “our ports existed de jure without completely certain status, although de facto they were open to the entry of foreign ships.”

Russian PM also signed a decree on amendments of the federal special-purpose programme “Development of Russia’s Transport System (2010–2020)”.

According to the Decree, the project on the construction of port Sabetta on the Yamal peninsula including the creation of an approach canal in the Ob Bay can be fully financed with the reallocated resources.

The Decree introduces amendments into the project on construction of a deepwater port in Baltijsk (Kaliningrad region).

The Yamal LNG project in Russia’s Arctic includes the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant with capacity of 16.5 million tons of LNG annually based on the resource of the South Tambeyskoye field.

Yamal LNG is owned by NOVATEK (60%), TOTAL (20%) and CNPC (20%).

The project is scheduled to start producing gas in 2016, reaching an estimated supply of 16.5 million tonnes by 2018.