UPDATE: JBIC, EU banks mull 1 bln euros for Russian Yamal LNG

(Adds details in paragraphs 3–4, background in last paragraph)

MOSCOW, Nov 25 (PRIME) -- The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) is considering a joint 1 billion euro financing of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) project Yamal LNG with European financial institutions, CEO of Yamal LNG’s key owner Novatek Leonid Mikhelson told newswire Nikkei in an interview published Friday.

The Yamal LNG project envisages construction of a 16.5-million-tonne LNG plant on the basis of the Yuzhno-Tambeiskoye field on the Yamal Peninsula. Novatek holds 50.1% in the project. China’s CNPC owns 20% and China’s Silk Road Fund holds 9.9%.

Mikhelson also said that the capacity of Novatek’s second LNG project Arctic LNG will amount to 12–16 million tonnes per year.

Novatek would like to invite Japan to participate in all stages of the project, he added.

Novatek plans to start building the Arctic LNG-2 plant on the Gydan Peninsula in the north of West Siberia once it completes construction of the Yamal LNG plant.

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