Russian independent producer Novatek said it has signed heads of agreement with France’s Total under which the latter would buy a stake in its two LNG transshipment complexes.
Total will purchase a 10 percent participation interest in Novatek’s unit Arctic Transshipment that will eventually operate the complexes currently under construction in the Kamchatka and Murmansk regions, according to Novatek.
The transshipment complexes make part of Novatek’s logistical chain to optimize the use of the Arc7 ice-class tanker fleet, with the aim to ensure “efficient and cost-effective” LNG transportation from Arctic LNG 2 and other company’s projects.
Moreover, the Arc7 ice-class LNG tankers will transfer cargoes to conventional tankers at each location.
Each transshipment complex comprises of a floating LNG storage unit with a capacity of 360,000 cubic meters with two ship-to-ship transshipment points.
Novatek and Total are already partners in both the Yamal LNG project and the Arctic LNG 2 development.