Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 development is set to receive about $9.5 billion in financial support from various international lenders, Reuters reported. The final investment decision for the $21-billion project was made in 2019. Arctic LNG 2 is expected to start production in 2023 before reaching its full capacity of 20 million tons/year in 2023. The facility will process natural gas from the Gydan Peninsula and export 80% of LNG to the Asian markets
Among the lenders are the China Development Bank, which is expected to offer a $5 billion facility, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation ($2.5 billion), an unidentified Russian bank ($1.5 billion), Italy’s SACE ($1 billion), Bpifrance ($700 million), and Germany’s Euler Hermes ($300 million). Previously, Russia’s Sberbank committed to providing a credit facility of €2.7 billion ($3.2 billion) for the project.
The project is led by Russian non-state firm Novatek, with equity partners including Total, CNPC, CNOOC, and the Japan Arctic LNG consortium (Mitsui and state-owned JOGMEC). The fund from international lenders can cover the project’s external financing of about $9-$11 billion. The funding comes despite greater scrutiny on fossil fuel projects over climate concerns.
