Russia Mulls New LNG Investment Vehicle: Report

Russia’s energy ministry has proposed setting up a state company to co-invest in LNG projects, Moscow-based news agency RBC reported on October 17.

Energy minister Alexander Novak made the proposal in a letter dated September 3 to president Vladimir Putin according to RBC, which claimed to have received a copy of the letter.

The company would invest not only in LNG production projects but also in associated infrastructure.

By 2035, Novak wrote in his letter, global LNG consumption could reach 700m mt, up from 320mn mt last year. He estimated Russia alone could meet 100-140mn mt of this demand. The frontrunner in Russia’s LNG expansion drive is Novatek, which has set out to produce as much as 70mn mt/yr of LNG from a cluster of projects in the far north by 2030. So far Yamal LNG is fully functioning and Arctic LNG-2 has been greenlighted, which together will add up to just over half the 70mn mt/yr projected.