Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 will not start shipments until March

Novatek, Russia’s largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), will start loading first cargo from the Arctic LNG 2 plant no earlier than March, Russia’s Kommersant daily reported on Thursday, citing anonymous sources.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has earlier said the first shipment would happen in February, but, according to Kommersant, the company first needs to receive a specialised tanker from South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean.

The tanker is still in Korea and will take at least a month to reach the project’s site in the Gydan peninsula on the Siberian coast, Kommersant said.

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Novatek has a fleet of similar tankers shipping cargoes from another project, Yamal LNG, but Kommersant said its tight loading schedule ruled out diverting any ships.