Novatek wants to build a LNG terminal near Murmansk

Its capacity is 20 million tons of LNG.
21.08.2018
Vedomosti
Origin source
Novatek expects to build a terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the Ura Bay of the Murmansk Region. This was announced by the Chairman of the Board of Novatek Leonid Mikhelson on August 20 at a meeting on the development of the Northern Sea Route. The event took place in Sabetta, here is the first Yamal LNG plant owned by Novatek and the terminal for the shipment of products.

The terminal on the route from Yamal to Europe is needed by the company to strengthen its position in the world LNG market, explained Mikhelson. "We are losing and will lose in shipping ice-class tankers", - quotes the words of Mikhelson TASS. The freight of an ice-class tanker is 70-80% more expensive than usual, the businessman said. "Transshipments will be established in ice-free ports, which will improve the efficiency of the ice class fleet," the agency quotes Michelson as saying.

What could be the cost of building a terminal in Murmansk, Mikhelson did not specify. The cost of construction of a terminal in Kamchatka - also with a capacity of up to 20 million tonnes of LNG a year - the company estimates about 108 billion rubles. Of these, 69.5 billion will be private investments, and 38.5 billion will be allocated from the budget, Interfax reported, citing the company's materials. The terminal will consist of two queues with a capacity of 10 million tons. It is planned to bring it to its designed capacity by 2022. The planned launch date for the first stage of the complex is 2020, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.

In December of last year, Novatek launched LNG production on the first line of the Yamal LNG plant. In total, it will consist of three lines with a planned capacity of 5.5 million tons per year each. But the actual is likely to be higher, said Michelson. In early August, the first shipment of products shipped the second line of the plant. Complete the construction of the third company expects by the end of the year. In parallel, preparation of the project "Arctic LNG-2" is underway, which may become the second for Novatek LNG plant. The estimated design capacity is 19.8 million tons of LNG per year. The final investment decision on the construction of the plant can be made in the first half of 2019, and in 2022-2025. the company expects to launch all three of its technological lines, reports referring to Mikhelson's words TASS.


  
The terminal in Kamchatka should significantly reduce transportation costs when delivering LNG to the Asia-Pacific region. Savings can be about $ 0.2 / MBTU, it follows from the materials of Novatek. It turns out that the transshipment of 17.4 million tons of LNG (the design capacity of Yamal LNG, taking into account the fourth line of 0.9 million tons) will save about $ 181 million per year.

The appearance of a transshipment near Murmansk will reduce the cost of logistics in the west. The economic effect of transshipment of LNG in the Murmansk region may be comparable to the one put into the Kamchatkan terminal project, says Maria Belova, research director at Vygon Consulting: "Similar capacity, similar distances from transshipment points to major markets." From the bay of Bechevinskaya to the Sodegaura terminal in Japan - 1,529 nautical miles, or 4 days of the way of a laden ice-type tanker. From the Murmansk port to Dunkirk in France - 1658 nautical miles, or just over 4 days, she estimated.

  

The intention to build a terminal in Murmansk does not mean that Novatek comparably divides the European and Asian markets by the volume of sales, Belova said. Commercial use of the Northern Sea Route in the eastern direction throughout the year is still impossible even with the availability of ice-class tankers. Without icebreaker escorts, they can go to Kamchatka at best five months a year and another four months - with icebreaker escort. Therefore, part of the cargo for the Asia-Pacific region will in any case be shifted to the west, as it is now.

Finally, Novatek will be able to reduce the use of Arc7 ice liquefied gas. Novatek ordered 15 vessels from the South Korean shipyard DSME for a total cost of about $ 5.5 billion. In autumn of 2017, the company handed over a preliminary application for the manufacture of about 15 other vessels to the Zvezda shipyard (the Rosneft project - Vedomosti), said Michelson . The new terminal will allow Novatek to optimize the Arctic tanker fleet, possibly even lowering its planned number, Belova suggests. But more conventional gas carriers will be required, she points out.

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