Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) confirmed that China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited will take an equity stake in the MOL wholly owned subsidiary that will own four LNG carriers serving the Russia Yamal LNG project.
The ownership of the LNG carriers will be split 50%-50% between MOL and China COSCO Shipping. MOL has already signed long-term charter contracts for the four LNG carriers through its subsidiary.
This is the fourth joint LNG project involving MOL and China COSCO Shipping, following one for ExxonMobil, another for SINOPEC, and the ice class LNG carriers for the Yamal LNG project .
This week COSCO announced the order of 14 new tankers, amongst which the acquisition of 50% stakes in four LNG vessels which will be used in the Yamal LNG Project from Japanese Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL).
Earlier this week, Novatek, Russia’s largest non-state LNG producer, announced the signing of two agreements with China Development Bank and with the Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC), regarding cooperation on the “Arctic LNG 2” project. Novatek is also due to start operations at its Yamal LNG project in the fourth quarter of 2017, that will produce around 16.5 million tonnes of LNG per year.
YAMAL LNG is an integrated project encompassing natural gas production, liquefaction and shipping. The Project consists of construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant with an output capacity of around 16.5 million tons per year, using the South Tambey Field as a resource base. The field’s proven and probable reserves, by PRMS standards, are estimated at 926 billion cubic meters. Extensive transportation infrastructure is being built in the scope of the Project, including a sea port and the Sabetta Airport.
The first tanker that was specifically built for the Yamal LNG project is the “Christophe de Margerie”, an Arc7 ice-class LNG tanker, as Yamal LNG had announced. The LNG tanker may be used for year-round navigation without the escort of icebreakers through the Northern Sea Route (NSR) towards Western direction and for summer season navigation towards Eastern direction.
