Russia’s Novatek in Yamal LNG milestone

Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer and LNG operator, Novatek has shipped more than 5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas from its $27 billion Yamal project in the Arctic.

The 68th cargo offloaded from the Yamal LNG project onto Sovcomflot’s Arc7 ice-class tanker Christophe de Margerie topped 5 million tonness of LNG produced since the start-up of first LNG train in December 2017, according to a Yamal LNG statement on Tuesday.

The first two liquefaction trains with a total annual production capacity of 11 million tonnes have been operating within their nameplate design parameters, the statement said.

Yamal LNG added that, as commissioning of the third Yamal train continues, the first firing of a compressor gas turbine was achieved in September, which is one of the key activities in the pre-startup sequence.

The third train with a capacity of 5.5 million tonnes per year is expected to be launched by the end of this year.

Besides Novatek, Yamal LNG’s shareholders include France’s Total, China’s CNPC and Silk Road Fund.