First Yamal LNG cargo heading to Europe

The first cargo of liquefied natural gas from the Novatek-operated Yamal LNG project in the Russian Arctic is heading towards Europe, according to the China state energy group CNPC.

CNPC is a shareholder in the giant LNG export project, Russia’s second such facility, along with Total each company having a 20 percent stake and China’s Silk Road Fund with a 9.9 percent stake.

The three-train Yamal LNG plant, designed to produce about 16.5 million tonnes per year, started liquefying natural gas from the South Tambey field on the Yamal Peninsula earlier this month.

The export project’s first liquefaction train will gradually ramp up capacity to 5.5 mtpa.

Other two phases are due to come onstream in 2018 and 2019, CNPC said in a statement posted on its website.

China is expected to take more than 4 million mt out of the total a year when once the plant hits full production capacity, CNPC said.

As previously reported, the first Yamal cargo is being carried by Sovcomflot’s Arc7 ice-class LNG tanker Christophe de Margerie with a capacity of 172,600 cubic meters. The LNG carrier is the first of 15 ice-class tankers built to ship cargoes from the Yamal LNG project.

CNPC said in the statement that the cargo carried by the Christophe de Margerie was going to Europe without providing any additional data.

According to the vessel tracking data by the marine data provider, VesselsValue, the LNG tanker is scheduled to dock at the Danish port of Skagen around December 17.

To remind, Yamal LNG and Belgium’s Fluxys LNG signed a 20-year contract for transshipment of up to 8 million mt of LNG per year at the port of Zeebrugge to support year-round LNG deliveries from the Yamal Peninsula to Asian-Pacific markets.

LNG World News Staff