The head of Novatek announced his intention to go as far as possible to the East

VLADIVOSTOK, 7 Sep — PRIME. Novatek plans to go as far as possible to the market of the Asia-Pacific region, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to work with Europe, especially in terms of making payments for the supplied gas, the head of the company, Leonid Mikhelson, told reporters at a briefing at the Eastern Economic Forum (WEF).

“The further you go, the more difficult it is to work with Europe. It is from the point of view of the banking sector, constant spokes in the wheel: we can list so much, so much – no. We strive to the East as much as possible,” Mikhelson said, answering a question about the current supply directions for ” Arctic LNG 2″.

He explained that we are talking about payment for the delivered LNG. “It’s just that the buyer pays, but the banks do not transfer for gas. Financiers make each payment through some other banks. They harm themselves,” said the head of Novatek.

Mikhelson added that Yamal LNG sells 80% of its production under long-term contracts, 20% on the spot market, and then they are distributed by traders, so it is difficult to determine the direction for this share. Moreover, under long-term contracts, prices are 2.5-3 times lower than the current ones on the spot.

“In Arctic LNG 2, each shareholder sells his share himself … The responsibility of the project will be to bring LNG to (hub – ed.) Murmansk or Kamchatka, and then the sale of the shareholder to the market. We (Novatek” – ed.) will focus as much as possible to the eastern market, the Asia-Pacific region,” he summed up. First of all, we are talking about China, as well as Vietnam and India.

Arctic LNG 2 is Novatek’s second large-capacity liquefied natural gas project after Yamal LNG. The resource base is the Utrenneye deposit in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The project plans to build three technological lines with a capacity of 6.6 million tons each (19.8 million tons of LNG per year). The launch of the first line of Arctic LNG 2 is scheduled for 2023, the second – for 2024, the third – for 2026. The shareholders are Novatek (60%), French Total (10%), Chinese CNOOC (10%), Chinese CNPC’s subsidiary CNODC (10%) and a consortium of Japanese Mitsui & Co and JOGMEC – Japan Arctic LNG (10% ).

The WEF takes place on September 5-8 on the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University on Russky Island in Vladivostok. RIA Novosti acts as the general media partner of the forum.