Yamal project to scale up Russian gas exports by 10 pct: Russian official

Novatek's Yamal liquefied natural gas (LNG) project will increase Russia's global natural gas exports by around 10 percent, Russian Deputy Energy Minister Anton Inyutsyn said on July 12.      

Speaking at the World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul, Inyutsyn told Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency that Russia ranks first in gas exports globally, and next year Russian energy company Novatek's Yamal LNG project will become operational.      

"It will rise and add around 10 percent more gas to our exports globally. Maybe other companies will raise this capacity further in the future apart from Novatek," he added.      

Inyutsyn noted that transport logistics are different for LNG and pipeline gas.      

"If you transport natural gas more than 3,000 kilometers, then it is more profitable to send it as LNG. But if it is less than 3,000 kilometers, it's better to send it by pipelines," he said.      

Novatek holds a 50.1 percent share in the Yamal LNG project, while Total and China's China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) each hold a 20 percent stake and the Chinese Silk Road Fund has a 9.9 percent share interest.      

The Yamal LNG terminal, which plans to have an output capacity of around 16.5 million tons per year, is expected to be operational by 2018.      

The project is located on the Yamal Peninsula above the Arctic Circle.      

Inyutsyn also spoke about the TurkStream project and reiterated Novak's remarks that "fifty kilometers of the project have already been completed. The project has just started and it will be completed in 2019," he said.      

The TurkStream pipeline is a transit-free export gas pipeline which will not only stretch across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey...