Russia’s Novatek boosted its production in the first quarter of this year while the company’s sales decreased.
Novatek said Thursday that natural gas production rose by 2.2 percent year on year to 19.1 billion cubic metres.
The company’s production of oil and gas condensate increased in the January-March period by 2 percent to 3.05 million tonnes.
Preliminary natural gas sales volumes, including LNG, totaled 20.69 billion cubic meters, logging a decline of 6.8 percent year-on-year.
Novatek sold 2.45 billion cubic meters of LNG volumes on international markets.
Novatek attributed the decline to “the decrease of Yamal LNG shareholders’ share, including Novatek’s share, of LNG sales on the spot market”.
This was due to a “corresponding increase of Yamal LNG direct sales under long-term contracts”.
Novatek had 0.3 bcm of natural gas, including LNG, in storage or transit and recognized as inventory at the end of this quarter.
This also includes 620 thousand tons of stable gas condensate and petroleum products.