Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated this Thursday, in Murmansk, the first line of Arctic LNG 2, a gigantic liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Arctic, from which the French company TotalEnergies withdrew in 2022.
“I request authorization to start transport operations at sea,” an operator said during the launch ceremony, broadcast on Russian television, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
“Permission granted,” Putin replied, pulling the lever, along with the head of gas giant Novatek, Leonid Mikhelson.
This project, estimated at 21,000 million dollars, is located on the Gydan Peninsula, about thirty kilometers from a first giant LNG plant on the Yamal Peninsula, which came online in 2017.
The project is expected to achieve a production capacity of 19.8 million tonnes of LNG per year, through three production lines, exploiting the rich gas field of nearby Utrenneye.
The French TotalEnergies had announced in 2022, after the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, to stop financing Arctic LNG 2, of which Novatek owns 60% together with the Chinese CNPC and CNOOC and the Japanese Japan Arctic LNG.
Arctic LNG 2 is one of the key projects in Russia’s planned exploration of the “northern sea route” linking Asia and Europe.
Moscow hopes that this Arctic route, made possible by global warming and melting ice, will in future compete with the Suez Canal for hydrocarbon trade.
Source: TSF
