Leonid Mikhelson, the CEO of Russian energy giant Novatek, has said that liquefied natural gas (LNG) export from Yamal LNG project is unlikely to be complicated over US sanctions on China's COSCO shipping giant, stressing that LNG export from the Arctic is not related to Iranian oil shipping
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd October, 2019) Leonid Mikhelson, the CEO of Russian energy giant Novatek, has said that liquefied natural gas (LNG) export from Yamal LNG project is unlikely to be complicated over US sanctions on China's COSCO shipping giant, stressing that LNG export from the Arctic is not related to Iranian oil shipping.
The United States imposed on September 25 sanctions against two units of COSCO for allegedly shipping Iranian oil in violation of sanctions targeting the middle Eastern nation. As a result, several LNG tankers of Novatek's Yamal LNG project were affected.
"Last December, we loaded the project to the full, a year earlier [than it had been planned], and we are successfully exporting all the production. We will receive the planned number of tankers by year end only, so I see no complications for Novatek, regardless of those sanctions or not even sanctions but proposals," Mikhelson said on Wednesday at the Russian Energy Week forum.
"I do not understand the link between LNG shipping in the Arctic zone and transporting oil from Iran. Let them solve the problem," Mikhelson added.
COSCO Dalian owns 50 percent of China LNG Shipping, which, in turn, has a 50 percent share in a joint venture with Canada's Teekay LNG � the Yamal LNG Joint Venture. This venture owns four Arc7 class tankers of the Yamal LNG project's fleet.
