The Russian independent gas producer Novatek has shipped its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from the Yamal LNG project to China via the Northern Sea Route. This represents a new milestone and the number of such shipments are expected to increase in the future to meet the growing natural gas demands of the Asian-Pacific markets. Novatek already started to ship natural gas via the Northern Sea route in 2010 and currently uses a fleet of 15 Arc7 ice-class LNG carriers with cargo capacity over 170,000 cm.
The Yamal LNG project will consists of three liquefaction trains of 5.5 Mt/year each of LNG and up to 1 Mt/year of gas condensate. The first unit was commissioned in December 2017 while the second and third trains are expected in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Yamal LNG's main shareholders are Novatek with 50%, Total with 20%, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) with 20%, and the Chinese Silk Road Fund (10%, to be sold shortly by Novatek for the provision of a US$792m, 15-year loan to finance the project). Yamal LNG has already secured contracts for more than 90% of the total capacity with Gas Natural Fenosa (2.5 Mt/year), CNPC (3 Mt/year), Total (4 Mt/year), Novatek Gas & Power (2.9 Mt/year) and Gazprom (3 Mt/year).