LNG

Novatek, the Russian natural gas company and operator of the Yamal LNG export plant and developer of the delayed Arctic LNG II facility hit by Western sanctions on equipment imposed because of the Ukraine invasion, has reported operational results for the first quarter of 2024 as it continued to supply LNG cargoes to the European Union.

Novatek’s results statement showed it had resumed full production at the Ust-Luga complex, the huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal and condensate processing plant that was damaged by fire on January 21, 2024, after reportedly being the subject of a Ukrainian drone attack.

Novatek resumed gas condensate processing at its Ust-Luga complex on February 11 after fire damage was repaired.

The company said it processed 1.4MT of stable gas condensate at the previously damaged Ust-Luga facility during the first quarter of 2024, which was 22 percent lower compared with the first three months of 2023 when 1.8MT was processed.

Natural gas sales

Novatek’s first-quarter 2024 total natural gas sales volumes to the end of March, including LNG, amounted to 21.47 billion cubic metres, a decrease of 3.8 percent compared with the same three months of 2023 when the total was 22.33 Bcm.

Novatek said its hydrocarbon production totaled 167.4 million barrels of oil equivalent, including 21.12 Bcm of natural gas and 3.5 million tons of liquids comprising gas condensate and crude oil.

This represented an increase of almost 2.5 percent in total hydrocarbons production compared with the first quarter of 2023 when the total was 163.9 million boe.

Novatek said it processed 3.3 million tonnes of unstable gas condensate at the Purovsky Processing Plant, which was 2.8 percent less than the 3.4MT processed in the prior-year quarter.

Preliminary total sales volumes of liquid hydrocarbons amounted to 4.3MT, which was 11 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2023.

Yamal cargoes

Novatek added that it had 0.2 Bcm of natural gas, including LNG, and 1.2MT of stable gas condensate and petroleum products in storage or transit and these were recognized as inventory.

Cargoes from the Yamal plant in the Russian Arctic are still being unloaded in EU nations with the UK being the only LNG importer in Western Europe to formally ban LNG from Russia.

The main EU destinations for Yamal LNG in the first quarter of 2024 have been Belgium, France and Spain.

LNG production started in December 2023 at the first Train at the Arctic LNG II project on the Gydan Peninsula on the Gulf of Ob, though Novatek has failed to ship any cargoes so far after reported problems with the liquefaction processing.

The second and third liquefaction Trains were now delayed as well and are scheduled to begin operations in 2025.

The Arctic LNG II Trains and facilities are being pre-built at a fabrication yard in the Murmansk region of Russia onboard gravity-based structures and are being towed to the Gydan Peninsula project site.

Each Arctic LNG II liquefaction Train installed on the platforms will have production capacity of 6.6 million tonnes per annum to total almost 20 MTPA in nameplate capacity.

During 2023 a total of around 90 gas wells were completed at the Utrenneye gas field to provide feed gas for Arctic LNG II. 

Novatek, the Russian natural gas company and operator of the Yamal LNG export plant and developer of Arctic LNG II set to start up by early 2024, has reported positive operating data for the second quarter of 2023 as it continued to supply cargoes to the European Union.

Novatek, the Russian operator of the Yamal LNG export plant in Northern Siberia and the developer of the Arctic LNG II venture scheduled to start up in late 2023, is continuing to function despite sanctions over Ukraine and has just accepted a Russian patent for LNG processing in Arctic plants.

Novatek, the Russian natural gas company and operator of the Yamal LNG export plant and developer of Arctic LNG II currently still under threat from Western sanctions imposed because of the Ukraine invasion, has reported operating data for the first quarter of 2023 as it continued to supply cargoes to the European Union.

Novatek, the Russian natural gas company and operator of the Yamal LNG export plant and developer of Arctic LNG II currently under threat from Western sanctions imposed because of the Ukraine invasion, said LNG cargoes sold on international markets fell in the second quarter.

Novatek, the Russian natural gas company and operator of Yamal LNG and the developer of the Arctic LNG II project, reported a more than six-fold rise in annual net profits as global prices soared and storage levels dropped.

The Moscow-based company posted 432.9 billion Russian roubles ($5.7 billion) of profits attributable to shareholders compared with 67.8Bln roubles ($893 million) of profits in the previous year.

Novatek is the largest independent natural gas producer in Russia and started up the Yamal LNG export plant in northern Siberia in 2017 to supply Europe and Asia and is currently building the second LNG joint venture on the Gydan Peninsula.

The company, listed on the Moscow and London stock exchanges, said total revenues and normalized gross income, including its share of joint ventures, amounted to 1,156.7 billion roubles ($15.23Bln) and 748.3Bln roubles ($9.85Bln), representing increases of 62.5 percent and 90.9 percent respectively compared with 2020.

Its upstream activities are concentrated in joint ventures in the prolific Yamal-Nenets Region, the world’s largest natural gas producing area, accounting for about 80 percent of Russia’s gas production and around 15 percent of the world’s gas output.

Price rises

“The increases in total revenues and normalized EBITDA were largely due to an increase in global commodity prices for hydrocarbons, as well as the launch of gas condensate deposits within the fields of the North-Russkiy cluster,” said Novatek.

The company explained that European and Asian natural gas markets were impacted by faster than expected recovery of demand after the Covid-19 pandemic, the declared energy transition policy, as well as weather factors and supply disruptions.

“All this caused storage level reductions in key consuming regions and a strong price rally in the second half of 2021,” it added.

Novatek’s natural gas sales volumes totaled 75.8 billion cubic metres, representing a marginal increase of 0.3 percent compared with 2020, though global prices soared.

“An increase in natural gas volumes sold on the domestic market completely offset a decline in natural gas volumes sold on the international markets,” explained the company.

“The increase in natural gas volumes sold on the domestic market resulted from the launch of additional production facilities, as well as higher demand from end-customers due to weather conditions,” added Novatek.

“The decline in natural gas volumes sold on the international markets was due to a decrease in LNG sales volumes purchased primarily from our joint venture OAO Yamal LNG, as a result of an increase in the share of Yamal LNG’s direct LNG sales under long-term contracts and the corresponding decrease in LNG spot sales to shareholders, including the Group,” it stated.

The Moscow-based company produces and sells LNG, crude oil, domestic natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and other petroleum products.

Novatek’s total hydrocarbon production increased to 626.3 million barrels of oil equivalent from 608.2 million boe in the previous year.

Total production amounted to 1.72 million boe per day versus 1.66M boe per day in 2020.

Oct 30 (LNGJ) - Russian natural gas company Novatek reported a 7.9 percent rise in nine-month revenues of 641.8 billion rubles ($10.5Bln) and a 14 percent jump in gross earnings to 338.3Bln rubles ($5.30Bln) compared with the 2018 period. “This was largely due to an increase in LNG sales volumes and our domestic average natural gas sales price, which was offset by a decrease in hydrocarbons sales prices on international markets,” said Novatek.

   Profit attributable to shareholders in the third quarter rose eight-fold to 370.0Bln rubles ($5.79Bln) from 45.90Bln rubles ($775 million) and in the nine months period was up seven-fold to 820.9Bln rubles ($12.85Bln). “Our profit was significantly impacted by the recognition of a net gain on disposal of a 10 percent and a 30 percent participation interests in the Arctic LNG 2 project in March and July 2019, respectively. Taken together these amounted to 675.0Bln rubles ($10.56Bln),” said Novatek.

   Excluding the effect from the disposals of stakes in subsidiaries and joint ventures, as well as foreign exchange differences, Novatek’s normalized profit in the third quarter totaled 48.5 billion rubles ($759M) and 178.6Bln rubles ($2.7Bln) in the nine-month period.