PARIS, April 15. / TASS /. French banks may participate in lending for the Yamal LNG project, a relevant agreement may be signed in 2016, Russia's Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told reporters.

"As for French banks - we have made very serious progress there, we are very optimistic about it. I do hope [that the agreement on lending will be signed this year - TASS]," the minister said.

Earlier this year, Russia’s largest independent gas producer Novatek confirmed the volume of capital expenditures for Yamal LNG project in the amount of $27 bln.

Head of Novatek Leonid Mikhelson said that the company plans to sign a number of loan agreements on the projects with banks in Russia, China and Europe.

Yamal LNG is a large scale project on creating a liquefied natural gas production facility. Yamal LNG unlocks access to the vast gas resources of the Russian Arctic, while also opening a new LNG sea transport route to Asia using ice-class LNG carriers.