Putin: Yamal LNG project to reach all world markets
© RIA Novosti. Grigoriy Sysoev

Putin: Yamal LNG project to reach all world markets

The Yamal LNG project will reach all world markets, President Vladimir Putin said at a news conference, the TASS news agency reports. 

"This will be a mighty joint Russian-French-Chinese project with large production and the possibility to reach practically all world markets," the president said. Putin noted that Russia sells LNG exclusively in Russia's Far East as part of joint projects or on swaps but in the future liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales will grow worldwide.

The Yamal LNG project envisages building a factory with a capacity of 16.5 million metric tons of LNG yearly on the resource base of the South-Tambeyskoye gas field. The project's total cost is $26.9 billion. The first stage of the factory is expected to launch in 2017.

The project shareholders are Novatek, China's CNPC and France's Total. In addition, Novatek and China's Silk Road Foundation signed a framework agreement providing for a Chinese investment fund to buy 9.9 percent of Yamal LNG's shares.