Russian President Vladimir Putin launched on December 8, 2017, a $27 billion LNG plant in Arctic as Russia hopes to surpass Qatar to become the world’s biggest exporter of the chilled fuel.
«It is a great day for us,» Putin said at the official ceremony in the port of Sabetta on the Yamal peninsula beyond the Arctic circle. «It is a large-scale project for Russia.»
The project is jointly owned by Russian Novatek, France’s Total, China’s CNPC and a Chinese state investment fund.
Almost 96 % of the Yamal LNG plant’s production has already been contracted. The main customers will be the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.
With Yamal LNG, Russia intends to strengthen its market presence in Asia and demonstrate its capacity to exploit huge Arctic reserves despite major technological challenges.
«This is for sure a complicated project,» said Putin at a ceremony. »But those who started this project took a risk, and the risk was justified, and they succeeded.»
The $27 billion project is set to start with a production capacity of 5.5 million tonnes per year and increase it to 16.5 million tonnes by the start of 2019.
Vladimir Putin also said that LNG export projects must not lead to a reduction in the volume of gas Russia exports via pipelines.
To read the full story in Russian.
