MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/. Yamal’s customs officers at the Sabetta sea port cleared export of more than 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and more than 100,000 tonnes of gas condensate for the UK, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium in the first quarter of 2018, the customs service’s press service said on Tuesday.

"The customs service has cleared export of more than 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas and more than 100,000 tonnes of gas condensate," the press service said. "In the first quarter of 2018, Yamal’s customs officers at the Sabetta sea port cleared for export 17 gas-tankers with liquefied natural gas and 6 condensate vessels."

"From the Eurasian Economic Union, more than 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas and more than 100,000 tonnes of gas condensate have been exported," the press service reported. "The destination countries are the UK, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium."

TASS wrote earlier that the Sabetta port, which was built specially for work of the Yamal LNG project, would be able to serve up to 17 million tonnes for transportation along the Northern Sea Route. The plant’s capacity of about 16.5 million tonnes LNG is due in the first quarter of 2019.

Yamal LNG is the first LNG plant of Russian independent gas producer Novatek. The project is on the Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic area. It envisions three LNG trains, each with the annual capacity of 5.5 million tonnes. The first train was launched in late 2017; the second and third will be put into operation in 2018-2019. Yamal LNG’s shareholders are: Novatek (50.1%), Total (20%), CNPC (20%), and the Silk Road Fund (9.9%).