Russian Arctic LNG-2 Plant 29% Complete: Novatek

The 19.8mn metric ton/year Arctic LNG-2 project in north Russia is now 29% complete, its operator Novatek said in an update on November 25.

The company said its CEO Leonid Mikhelson had held a meeting with his counterparts at Arctic LNG-2's other partners, France's Total, Chinese firms CNPC and Cnooc, and Japan's Mitsui and Jogmec, to discuss the project's progress.

The concrete casting of the first of the three gravity-based structure (GBS) platforms is 67% complete, Novatek said. Module fabrication yards are working at full capacity and modules are expected to be completed and shipped according to schedule.  The modules fabrication progress for the first GBS is estimated to be 46% complete, the company said.

Novatek added that 17 production wells had been drilled at the Utrenneye field that will supply Arctic LNG-2's gas, with three drilling rigs in operation. Two more are to be mobilised before the end of the year. Construction of the Utrenniy terminal is 69% complete, with its berth expected to be finished in the first quarter of 2021, Novatek said.

Arctic LNG-2's first train is due to start up in 2023, with its second and third scheduled for launch in 2024 and 2026. Russia's Zvezda shipyard announced on November 20 it had begun cutting steel for the first of the project's LNG carriers.