PAO NOVATEK announced that the LNG train on a gravity-based structure comprising the first phase of the Company's large-scale Arctic LNG 2 plant was installed on the underbase foundation on the seabed at the Utrenniy Terminal on the Gydan Peninsula. The LNG train will now be hooked up to onshore upstream facilities to complete the commissioning activities and commence liquefaction operations.
The 6.6-mtpa process train was towed by sea from the LNG Construction Center in the Murmansk Region to the Gydan Peninsula and was installed on the underbase foundation built on the seabed near the shore. The unique marine towing operation took only 22 days to complete. The 330 m long, 152 m wide and 90 m high platform weighs 640,000 tonnes and is the heaviest object ever moved in the history of the global LNG industry.
The train consists of topside modules with the equipment to produce and offload liquefied natural gas and stable gas condensate, installed on a concrete gravity-based structure, which accommodates LNG and condensate storage tanks.
“We passed an important milestone in the Arctic LNG 2 project having completed the marine towing of the LNG train, fully assembled at the LNG Construction Center, and its installation at the Utrenniy Terminal”, said Leonid Mikhelson, NOVATEK’s Chairman of the Management Board. “The innovative GBS-based construction concept allows us to put new LNG facilities into operation faster and with lower capital expenditures. Our LNG Construction Center in the Murmansk Region offers a unique advantage of serial LNG trains fabrication: we are now at an advanced stage of building the Arctic LNG 2 project's second train, and we are also starting the work on the third train's GBS.”
PAO NOVATEK is the largest independent natural gas producer in Russia, and in 2017, entered the global LNG market by successfully launching the Yamal LNG project. Founded in 1994, the Company is engaged in the exploration, production, processing and marketing of natural gas and liquid hydrocarbons. Upstream activities of the Company’s subsidiaries and joint ventures are concentrated mainly in the prolific Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region, which is the world’s largest natural gas producing area and accounts for approximately 80% of Russia’s natural gas production and approximately 15% of the world’s gas production. NOVATEK is a public joint stock company established under the laws of the Russian Federation.