TOKYO, December 26, Ksenia Naka The introduction of US sanctions against Arctic LNG-2 will not affect the participation of Japanese companies in the Sakhalin-2 project «said a source familiar with the situation.
“I think that after the introduction of US sanctions against the Arctic LNG-2 project, Japan will not be able to purchase gas from it. But Japan buys gas from Yamal LNG; it is not under sanctions. Last year they bought 600 thousand tons from it «And this year they are also buying. Japan buys the bulk of LNG from Sakhalin-2, last year Japan bought 6 million tons from it. I think that Japan will continue to buy LNG from Sakhalin-2. Most likely «, will continue to buy. But now it will not be able to buy from Arctic LNG-2 and will not be able to buy 2 million tons, as planned. Japan will now have to buy this volume from other countries,» the source said.
The Arctic LNG 2 project involves the construction of three LNG production trains with a capacity of 6.6 million tons per year. It was planned to launch the first of three stages of the plant before the end of the year, and begin commercial deliveries in January. Novatek owns 60% of the project, another 10% each belongs to the French TotalEnergies, the Chinese CNPC and CNOOC, as well as the consortium of the Japanese Mitsui and JOGMEC. Each shareholder has the right to receive LNG in an amount proportional to its share; for Novatek it is 12 million tons per year, for foreign shareholders it is 2 million tons.
As the Kommersant newspaper wrote the day before, citing sources in the Russian government, foreign shareholders of the Arctic LNG 2 project, which fell under US sanctions in early November, declared force majeure on participation in the project, which means the LNG plant shareholders refused responsibilities for its financing and implementation of offtake contracts for LNG. It was about the French TotalEnergies, the Chinese CNPC and CNOOC, as well as the consortium of the Japanese Mitsui and JOGMEC.
At the same time, on December 22, Bloomberg wrote that CNOOC and CNPC will ask the US authorities to exempt contracts from sanctions. Poten & Partners writes that Japanese companies have also launched the same process, but it will take a long time.
Sakhalin-2 is an oil and gas project within which two oil and gas fields are being developed in the northeast of the Sakhalin shelf: Piltun-Astokhskoye (mainly oil) and Lunskoye (mainly gas). The constructed infrastructure includes three offshore platforms, an integrated onshore technological complex, an oil export terminal and a gas liquefaction plant.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last summer signed a decree on the application of special economic measures in the fuel and energy sector, according to which a Russian legal entity, Sakhalin Energy LLC, became the operator of the Sakhalin-2 project. Japanese Mitsui and Mitsubishi agreed to a change of jurisdiction and retained shares in the project (12.5% and 10%, respectively). Shell, which accounted for 27.5%, refused, and in April the government approved the sale of this stake to Novatek. The largest participant in the new operator is Gazprom with a 50% share.