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Several news reports, including by Bloomberg, and social media posts said that the second GBS, or LNG train, has arrived under tow at the Utrenniy terminal on Gydan.
LNG Prime could not get an official confirmation of the GBS arrival by the time this article was published.
The second GBS left the Belokamenka yard under tow on July 26, and the installation of the unit at the Arctic LNG 2 site was expected to start in mid-August, Kommersant said in a previous report.
Novatek completed the second GBS despite sanctions by the US and the EU related to the Arctic LNG 2 project.
The first GBS left the Belokamenka yard in July last year and Novatek completed the installation on the underbase foundation on the seabed at the Utrenniy terminal in August.
This 330 meters long, 152 meters wide, and 90 meters high platform weighs 640,000 tonnes and is the heaviest object ever moved in the history of the global LNG industry, Novatek claims.
The train consists of topside modules with the equipment to produce and offload LNG and stable gas condensate, installed on a concrete gravity-based structure, which accommodates LNG and condensate storage tanks.
Arctic LNG 2
The first and second GBS each have a capacity of about 6.6 mtpa, while the Arctic LNG 2 project also includes the construction of the third GBS.
The resource base of the Arctic LNG 2 project is the Utrenneye field located on the Gydan Peninsula in the YaNAO, about 70 km from the Novatek-operated Yamal LNG project across the Gulf of Ob.
Novatek is the LNG project’s operator with a 60 percent stake, France’s TotalEnergies 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.
In January, TotalEnergies initiated a force majeure process on the Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia due to sanctions.
In March 2022, TotalEnergies said it would no longer provide capital and book proven reserves for the Arctic LNG 2 project due to the uncertainty created by the technological and financial sanctions on the ability to carry out the development.
After that, TotalEnergies wrote down its 19.4 percent stake in Novatek and withdrew the representatives of the company from the board of Novatek.
“Shadow fleet”
According to reports in Russia, Novatek started production of LNG from the first unit in December but it has not been shipping LNG from the project due to sanctions and lack of vessels.
However, reports say that Novatek has recently loaded two LNG cargoes at the first GBS.
The first vessel is the 2005-built 138,121-cbm, Pioneer, and the second vessels is the 2002-built 137,231-cbm, Asya Energy.
According to VesselsValue data, both of these LNG carriers are owned by UAE-based NUR Global Shipping.
The data also shows that NUR Global Shipping owns the 2024-built 79,800-cbm, Mulan, and the 2017-built 150,000-cbm, New Energy.
Flex LNG’s CEO Øystein Kalleklev said during the company’s second quarters call on August 14 that “we have seen two loadings on the Arctic LNG 2.”
“They have been able to source oldest tonnage for this project to do the loadings as we alluded to in our May presentation where we said that we thought that shadow fleet of LNG ships would develop based on the discussion we had with different market actors and interest in the S&P market,” he said.
He said Russia is basically following the recipe for petroleum market where they have been successful in keeping oil barrels flowing through “friendly nations” such as India, China, and Brazil.
“So, we do think that the Russians will find also willing buyers for these LNG volumes,” he said.
