Novatek and its partners in the Arctic LNG 2 project have signed a loan agreement with a syndicate of Russian banks for a total amount of 3.11 billion euros ($3.77 billion).
The banks include Sberbank, Gazprombank and its subsidiary Bank GPB International, state development corporation VEB.RF but also Bank Otkritie Financial Corporation, Novatek said in a statement.
The 15-year credit line facility is only a part of the external financing package for the Arctic LNG 2 project.
Novatek has previously said the project’s partners were working to complete about $11 billion in external financing for the project that will cost around $21.3 billion in total.
This move comes after two new announcements related to the Arctic LNG 2 project this week.
Novatek announced yesterday a deal with Total for the LNG transshipment complexes currently under construction in the Kamchatka and Murmansk regions.
In addition, Novatek said it has signed offtake deals with its partners in the Arctic LNG 2 project for all of the volumes from the development.
The project located on the Gydan peninsula includes the construction of three LNG trains with a capacity of 6.6 mtpa, each, using gravity-based structure platforms.
The Russian producer is the LNG project’s operator with a 60 percent stake, France’s Total 10 owns percent while CNPC and CNOOC of China have 10 percent, each.
Japan Arctic LNG, a consortium of Mitsui & Co and Jogmec, owns a 10 percent stake in the project as well.
Novatek expects to launch the first LNG train in 2023, with trains 2 and 3 to follow in 2024 and 2026, respectively.
