Sources say that Russia's Novatek employs lobbyists in order to improve relations with the US.
Two sources familiar with the situation said that Novatek, Russia's largest producer of liquefied gas, is working with lobbyists to try and rebuild U.S. relationships after Washington imposed sanctions against its mammoth Arctic LNG 2 Project. After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the relationship between the United States and Russia reached a post Cold War low. President Joe Biden’s administration imposed sanctions on hundreds entities and individuals who supported the war effort. Novatek's Arctic LNG 2 was to be the largest LNG plant in Russia. Some Russians are cautiously optimistic about the return of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on Jan.
Data shows that Russia's LNG exports from Jan-Nov are up by 5%.
LSEG reported on Monday that Russia's January-November LNG exports increased by 4.7 % compared to a year ago, reaching 29,1 million metric tonnes. Just over half of these were shipped to Europe. In the first 11 month of this year, Europe imported around 14.7 millions tons of Russian exports. This is 51% of all Russian exports. According to data, total supplies were stable in November, with 2.9 million tonnes. The data for October was revised to 2,87 million tons, down from the initial reported 2.97 millions tons. The supply of goods to Europe fell to 1,27 million tonnes last month from 1,66 million tons the previous November.
Data shows that Russian LNG exports in Jan-Oct are up by 6%.
LSEG data on Friday showed that Russia's January-October LNG exports increased by 6% compared to a year ago, reaching 26,4 million metric tonnes. Just over half of these were shipped to Europe. The data show that the October supply rose 10% over September, to 2,97 million tons. This is a record monthly volume for this year. The data for September was revised to 2.7 millions tons, down from the originally reported 2.81million tons. In the first ten months of this year, Europe imported around 13,4 million tons of Russian exports. The last month's supplies to Europe were 950,000 tons. This is down from 1.1 millions tons in September 2024, and 1.2million tons in October 2023.
TotalEnergies CEO: Up to $2 billion in Russia still stuck
Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of TotalEnergies, told analysts that the French oil giant's stakes in Russian gas company Novatek and its Yamal LNG project in Russia generate between $1.5 and $2 billion annually in dividends. Pouyanne stated that although the company was able to move some money out of Russia in the early stages of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, "today there is little or nothing coming" because of the Western sanctions against Moscow. TotalEnergies has 19.4% ownership of Novatek. It cannot sell it because Gennady Timothy, a Russian billionaire sanctioned by the United States and other countries, has a first right of refusal.
Data shows that Russian LNG tankers are avoiding the Arctic as winter approaches.
LSEG data on Thursday showed that ships carrying Russian liquefied gas (LNG), to Asia, are returning to longer routes around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope instead of those along the Arctic coast as the winter season starts. The new Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia also lacks sufficient ice-class tankers to continue the navigation along Northern Sea Route. However, some of these tankers still do so. According to LSEG, the LNG Megrez conventional gas tanker loaded at Yamal LNG on October 2 and began its journey around Africa to Asia. Arrival is set for November 13. Seapeak Yamal will also travel past the southern tip Africa, judging from its arrival date of November 23.
Yamal LNG Resumes Loading Operations in Norway
Yamal LNG, controlled by Russia's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Novatek, is resuming ship-to-ship transfers in Norway, Novatek said on Monday, after plans to shift the operations to Russia fell through due to coronavirus.Novatek suspended transfers in Norway in June last year due to what it termed "pressure from the West".According to Refinitiv Eikon data, the Arc7 tanker Vladimir Vize is due to arrive at the Norwegian Arctic port of Honningsvag on April 1, carrying a cargo from Yamal LNG.The data also showed that an empty Arc4 tanker…
Yamal LNG Starts Using New Storage Tank
Novatek, the largest independent natural gas producer in Russia, started using a dedicated LNG transshipment tank at the Zeebrugge LNG terminal in Belgium.Novatek booked the tank’s capacity as part of a 20-year transshipment agreement between Yamal LNG’s unit Yamal Trade and Fluxys LNG.The dedicated LNG tank was built specifically for the transshipment needs of Yamal LNG with a capacity of 180,000 cubic meters, allowing the Project to transship up to 8 million tons of LNG per annum.“The LNG tank construction for Yamal LNG began in Zeebrugge in 2015 and its commissioning is a key milestone for the Project…
Yamal LNG Gets All 15 Arc7 Ice-Class Tankers
Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Yamal LNG announced the operational start of the new Arc7 ice-class LNG tanker “Yakov Gakkel”, the fifteenth and final Arc7 ice-class tanker built specifically for the Project.The Yakov Gakkel has loaded the 354th LNG cargo in the port of Sabetta bound to China, said a press note.The vessel was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) and is owned and operated by a 50-50 joint venture by Teekay LNG and China LNG Shipping. It is one of six vessel owned and operated by the Teekay…
Yamal LNG Exceeds Nameplate Capacity
Yamal LNG, a liquefied natural gas plant located in Sabetta at the north-east of the Yamal Peninsula, Russia, announced that since the beginning of 2019, the LNG plant produced more than 16.5 million tons of LNG.The Project exceeded its annual nameplate production capacity during the first eleven months of the year, when all three LNG trains were in operation, as the third LNG train was launched at the end of 2018.Yamal LNG has reached 25 million tons of LNG shipped since the start-up of Train 1 in December 2017, and has cumulatively dispatched…
GasLog Sees Tighter LNG Shipping Market
GasLog, an international owner, operator and manager of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, is predicting a tighter LNG shipping market, as increasing United States LNG output combines with a seasonal uptick in demand for gas, resulting in rising demand for shipping and higher utilization of the global fleet.These underlying trends in the LNG commodity and shipping markets point towards a structurally tighter market through 2020 and into 2021.As of October 28, 2019, the LNG fleet and orderbook (excluding floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) and vessels with capacity below 100…
Teekay Resolves China LNG JV Issues
Teekay LNG’s 50/50 joint venture with China LNG, which owns four on-the-water ARC7 LNG carriers and two ARC7 LNG carrier newbuildings, is also no longer classified as a “blocked person” under Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) rules.According to a press release from the owners and operators of LNG carriers, providing LNG and LPG marine transportation services firm, Teekay Corporation and Teekay LNG Partners announced that COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation, a COSCO group firm, has completed an ownership restructuring on arms-length terms which has resulted in Teekay LNG’s joint venture partner…
Novatek in Talks on LNG Transhipment
Russia's liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Novatek is in talks to tranship its Yamal cargoes in Norway or Russia's Murmansk because it is unsure of the impact of U.S. sanctions on the Chinese COSCO tankers it uses, a Novatek official said.The United States imposed sanctions on Sept. 25 on state-owned COSCO's subsidiaries, COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Co and COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Seaman & Ship Management, for allegedly ferrying Iranian crude.U.S.-listed ship owner Teekay LNG said last week its shipping joint venture in Russia, Yamal LNG, had been "blocked" by the U.S.
Yamal LNG Increases Asia-Pacific Shipments Via NSR
Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer Novatek said that its operated Yamal LNG project has shipped 15 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Asia-Pacific markets directly via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) during 3Q19.The eastbound shipments represented about 25% of all LNG dispatched from Yamal LNG during the quarter. Planned 2019 volumes of LNG delivered eastbound to the Asian Pacific markets via the NSR will be increased by more than 4 times compared to last year.A current fleet of 13 Arc7 ice-class tankers along with lower…
Japanese Backers for Novatek's LNG Complexes
Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer and LNG project operator Novatek has formed ties with Japan's shipper Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to collaborate on liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.The three companies will implement projects for construction of a marine LNG transshipment complexes in Kamchatka Territory and Murmansk Region, including possible acquisition of participation interest in projects and potential financing of projects.“We have already started successful cooperation with Japanese companies in large LNG projects…
McDermott JV Bags Arctic LNG-2 Deal
Engineering services firm McDermott International announced that its joint venture Qingdao McDermott Wuchuan Offshore Engineering Co. Ltd (QMW) in Qingdao, China, has been awarded a contract to provide three complex modules for the Arctic LNG 2 Project in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region in Russia.McDermott defines a large contract as between $50 million and $250 million. The designation refers to McDermott’s share of the award via its joint venture."This award recognizes QMW's experience and excellent performance in the Arctic on an earlier Yamal LNG project. It is further evidence that QMW is a tier one module fabricator in the LNG market.
Green Light for Arctic LNG 2
The $21.3 billion Arctic liquefied natural gas (LNG)-2 project on the Gydan Peninsula headed by the Russian largest independent natural gas producer Novatek won a green light on Thursday.The project will have a production capacity of 19.8 million tons per year (Mt/y) and is expected to export its first LNG cargo by 2023, the second and third train to start up by 2024 and 2026.Total has a direct 10% interest in Arctic LNG 2 alongside Novatek (60%), CNOOC (10%), CNPC (10%) and a Mitsui-Jogmec consortium, Japan Arctic LNG (10%). Total also owns an 11.6% indirect participation in the project through its 19.4% stake in Novatek…
Vladimir Rusanov Opens Northern Sea Route
Russian natural gas producer Novatek announced that the Arc7 ice-class LNG tanker 'Vladimir Rusanov' completed the Northern Sea Route (NSR) passage via the Eastern direction, delivering an LNG cargo from the Yamal LNG project, at the port of Sabetta, to China's port of Tianjin.The 168,560 cbm vessel shipped transited the ice-covered part of the route in only 6days, setting a new record for independent passage via the NSR without ice-breaking support with cargo on board.The net voyage time from Sabetta to the destination port was completed in a record 16 days…
TechnipFMC Wins $7.6 Bln Contract
Oil services company TechnipFMC won a $7.6 billion contract with Russia's Novatek and its partners for the Arctic 2 liquefied natural gas project in western Siberia, pushing TechnipFMC's shares higher.TechnipFMC's Paris-listed shares rose 3.2% in early session trading, as analysts welcomed the new contract.TechnipFMC said the consolidated value of the contract to it for Arctic LNG-2 was $7.6 billion and consisted of three LNG trains, each with a capacity of 6.6 million tons per annum (Mtpa)."TechnipFMC's announcement of the award of the $7.6 billion award for the 3-train Arctic LNG 2 project will…
Last Yamal LNG Arctic Ships on Sea Trials
The last of 15 Arc7-classed tankers ordered for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) production plant Yamal LNG in Russia's Arctic north are undergoing sea trials around a South Korean shipyard, Refinitiv Eikon shipping data showed on Monday.The Georgiy Ushakov and Yakov Gakkel LNG tankers are both in water at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) Okpo shipyard in South Korea and indicating they are performing sea trials, the data showed. The Vladimir Voronin, meanwhile, finished its sea trials and has left the Sea of Japan, setting Yamal LNG as its destination.
Novatek Signs LNG Equipment Deal
The Russian natural-gas company Novatek and Atomenergomash, a mechanical engineering division of the Rosatom State Corporation, have signed a memorandum on strategic partnership and localizing the fabrication of critical equipment for liquefied natural gas (LNG) production.Novatek said that under the memorandum, the two companies will cooperate in the long term to localize the fabrication of pumps, heat exchangers and other equipment for Novatek's LNG projects at Atomenergomash's facilities.The Memorandum notes the results already achieved on the fabrication of coil-wound heat exchangers and medium-tonnage cryogenic pumps…
