Novatek, the operator of the giant Yamal LNG project in the Russian Arctic, reported on Wednesday a rise of 3.2 percent in its gas production in the first half of this year.
Russia’s largest non-state natural gas producer said in its preliminary report it produced 32.93 billion cubic meters (bcm) in the period under review, as compared to 31.91 bcm in the first half of 2017.
The company’s hydrocarbons production totaled 264.3 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), up by 2.4 percent from 2017.
Preliminary natural gas sales volumes, including LNG, totaled 35.42 bcm, a rise of 6.9 percent on year.
The LNG sales volumes on international markets in the first half amounted to 1.61 bcm, Novatek said.
Novatek, that is working on expanding its annual LNG export capacity up to 60 million tonnes by 2030, started shipping LNG from its Yamal project in December last year.
The LNG export project is currently producing the chilled fuel only from the first train. Novatek expects to start the second production unit in September-October and the third train in December this year or January 2019.