Novatek expects production growth at Yamal LNG this year

MOSCOW, 13 Oct – PRIME. The production of liquefied natural gas at the Yamal LNG project in 2022 is expected to grow to 21 million tons, Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson told reporters at a briefing as part of the Russian Energy Week.

“About 21 million,” he answered a question about the projected production volumes at Yamal LNG in 2022. In 2021, the volume of production at Yamal LNG amounted to 19.6 million tons.

As for Arctic LNG 2, the Novatek project under construction on Gydan, work on it continues, its implementation is planned within the timeframe announced at the time of the investment decision. At the same time, the sanctions problems on it have been practically resolved, Mikhelson noted.

Novatek expects that the next project after Arctic LNG 2 will be Ob LNG. “We are working on (Ob LNG – ed.). By the end of the year, I think, such very important technological decisions will be made in terms of equipment that will allow us to make an investment decision in the first half of 2023,” the head of the company explained.

Further implementation of the project “Arctic LNG 1” is planned. Novatek is now actively investing in exploration to prepare the resource base, including for this project. At the same time, there is “nothing interesting” for the company in the unallocated resource fund of the Russian Federation in Yamal and Gydan.

“This year and last year we allocate about 40-41 billion rubles for investments in exploration. And we are mainly focused on the Gydanskoye field, on the Achimov deposits, we have the southern part of the reserves in the Geophysical area, and now we are conducting exploration — on what will be the resource base for Arctic LNG 1,” he concluded.

Russian Energy Week takes place in Moscow on October 12-14. RIA Novosti acts as an information partner of the forum.