SABETTA, December 12. /TASS/. The launch of Novatek’s first line of the Arctic LNG 2 plant is still scheduled for December 2023, and the second and third lines - for 2024 and 2026, respectively, Deputy General Director for capital construction of Arctic LNG 2 Timofey Sazonov told reporters.
"The goal is to launch … in December 2023. [Second and third stages] - in 2024 and 2026. We are not reconsidering [deadlines]," he said.
It was reported back in November that Russia may start deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan from the Arctic LNG-2 project in 2023, which can reach 2 mln tonnes per year in the future.
"This project [Arctic LNG-2] is developing successfully. We hope that next year Japan will receive additional volumes of Russian LNG, in addition to what is already supplied from Sakhalin-2," Russian Ambassador to Tokyo Mikhail Galuzin said, drawing attention to the fact that Russia and Japan have areas "for mutually beneficial cooperation", among which he mentioned energy.
According to Galuzin, around 2 mln tonnes of LNG will be added to gas supplies to Japan "with the full-scale launch of Arctic LNG-2." He noted that now the volume of Japanese imports of Russian LNG reaches roughly 5-6 mln tonnes, which means that, taking into account fuel from the Arctic LNG-2 project, the share of Russian gas in the structure of Japanese imports may increase.
Arctic LNG-2 is Novatek's second LNG project. It includes the construction of three lines for the production of liquefied natural gas with a capacity of 6.6 mln metric tons per year each and stable gas condensate up to 1.6 mln metric tons per year. The launch of the first line is planned for December 2023, the launch of the second and third lines is expected in 2024 and 2026, respectively.