Yamal LNG Delays 4th Train's Launch: Press

Russia's biggest LNG operator Novatek has pushed back the launch of the fourth train of its Yamal LNG export project, reportedly because of design errors.

The Yamal LNG’s first three 5.5mn mt/yr trains were all commissioned either on time or ahead of schedule between late 2017 and late 2018. The smaller 0.9mn mt/yr fourth train had been due to start up by the end of 2019, but is now scheduled to start operating closer to mid-2020.

“We will launch commissioning work in the month of March; in the first half of this year we will launch it,” Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Russia’s Prime news agency reported on January 23.

The delay is due to the fact that the processing pipelines installed at the train were not designed to handle gas that has such a low temperature, sources told Moscow-based business daily Kommersant. Citing experts, the newspaper claimed the facility would lose rubles 900mn ($14.5mn) in revenues each month it was not operating.

Despite its small size, Yamal LNG’s fourth train is a key project for Novatek, as it will showcase the company’s proprietary Arctic Cascade liquefaction technology for the first time. In contrast, Yamal LNG's other trains used technology provided by US firm Air Products, while Novatek's Arctic LNG-2 plant, slated to come online in 2023, is set to use technology developed by Germany's Linde.

After trialling Arcade Cascade at Yamal LNG, Novatek plans to deploy it at its next LNG project, Obsk LNG, which it aims to sanction before mid-year.

Novatek has a 50.1% stake in Yamal LNG, while France’s Total has 20% and China’s CNPC and Silk Road Fund have 20% and 9.9% respectively. While its first three trains have a nameplate capacity of 16.5mn mt/yr, they are currently producing LNG at a rate of 17.5mn mt/yr.