Italian oil and gas industry contractor Saipem and its Turkish partner Renaissance have been awarded a new €2.2bn (US$2.5bn) onshore engineering and construction (E&C) contract for the construction of the Arctic LNG 2 export project on the Gydan Peninsula (Russia). Saipem and Renaissance will work under the framework of a 50/50 joint venture (JV).
Arctic LNG 2 encompasses the construction of three liquefaction trains of 6.6 Mt/year capacity each with a total capacity of approximately 19.8 Mt/year (26.7 bcm/year). The final investment decision could be made as early as mid-2019, with the first train expected to start up by the end of 2023. Arctic LNG 2 will unlock more than 7 Gboe of hydrocarbon resources in the onshore Utrenneye gas and condensate field.
The project is operated by Novatek (60%), which is considering reducing its share in the project to 40%, and Ekropromstroy (40%). In May 2018, Total, which already owns a 19% stake in Novatek and takes part to its Yamal LNG plant in Russia, committed to acquire a 10% working interest in the Arctic LNG-2 liquefaction project. The project has also attracted interest from international investors, such as CNPC, Kogas and Saudi Aramco.