Yamal LNG to shut two trains for maintenance

The Novatek-operated Yamal LNG export project in the Russian Arctic will close two production units as of next week as part of planned maintenance.

Yamal LNG said in a statement on Wednesday it will shut the second and third LNG train for 12 days each from 21 May to 15 June 2020.

In addition to regular maintenance works, Yamal LNG plans to modernize the absorbers at the mercury removal units, as well as implement a number of upgrades aimed at improving the efficiency of the LNG trains.

The maintenance will not affect the planned LNG production volume for the year, according to the statement.

Yamal LNG also said that it will move the scheduled maintenance of the first liquefaction train from August 2020 to 2021.

The reason behind this is a successful implementation of a risk-based inspection maintenance system at Yamal LNG.

“The RBI methodology allows to maintain reliable operations of the
LNG plant while reducing the total number of service hours”, the statement said.

Yamal LNG is building a 17.4 million tonnes per year LNG export plant comprising of three LNG trains of 5.5 mtpa each and one LNG train of 900,000 tons per year.

The first LNG train began production in the fourth quarter of 2017, while trains 2 and 3 were launched in July 2018 and November 2018, respectively.

Yamal LNG shareholders include Novatek (50.1%), France’s Total (20%), China’s CNPC (20%), and the Silk Road Fund (9.9%).