Russian LNG transshipment complexes eyed

Novatek, Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., and Japan Bank for International Cooperation have signed a cooperation agreement confirming the companies’ interest in building LNG transshipment complexes in Russia’s Kamchatka and Murmansk regions.

The Russian company said cooperation might include participation interests in projects and financing.

Leonid Mikhelson, chairman of Novatek’s management board, said the complexes “will help to optimize logistics and maximize the efficiency of LNG deliveries from Yamal and Gydan to LNG key markets of the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan.”

Novatek operates a 16.5-million-tonne/year liquefaction plant on the Yamal Peninsula in the Russian Arctic and is building a 19.8 million-tonne/year plant across the Gulf of Ob on the Gydan Peninsula. It has discussed a third LNG facility in the region (OGJ Online, Sept. 3, 2019).

Mikhelson expects final arrangements for the transshipment projects by yearend.