China’s Wison Offshore and Marine said Thursday that two giant Arctic 2 LNG modules have left its Zhoushan yard and are on their way to Russia.
Russia’s Novatek will install these modules on the first Arctic LNG 2 gravity-based structure platform, or the first liquefaction train, at its Murmansk LNG construction yard.
Wison started working on these modules in December 2019 after it won a contract from France’s Technip FMC.
In total, the Chinese firm said it would build four modules with a total weight of nearly 50,000 tonnes.
Wison added it plans to ship the two other LNG modules in mid-September.
The Arctic LNG 2 project located on the Gydan peninsula includes the construction of three LNG trains with a capacity of 6.6 mtpa, each.
The project had reached a 45 percent completion as of the end of the second quarter, Novatek’s finance chief Mark Gyetvay recently said, adding that the first GBS was about 61 percent complete.
Novatek previously said it had expected the first modules for the first GBS to arrive from China in Murmansk around September 2021.
Also, the LNG producer expects to receive the first set of Arctic LNG 2 modules for the second liquefaction unit in May 2022.
Novatek is the LNG project’s operator with a 60 percent stake, France’s Total owns 10 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.
The partners plan to launch the first LNG train in 2023, with trains 2 and 3 to follow in 2024 and 2025, respectively.