Novatek’s Yamal LNG fast-track wins plaudits

Once regarded as an unlikely addition to global liquefied natural gas capacity, the Yamal project is ready to roll and Novatek has even bigger plans

The decision by Novatek, Russia's largest independent gas producer, to accelerate the speed at which it expands its vast Yamal LNG project in northwestern Siberia has received a warm reception from market observers. Leonid Mikhelson, the company's chief executive, says the timeline for the completion of the $27bn project will arrive sooner than scheduled by fast-tracking the second and third stages. Previously, the company intended to launch three 5.5m-tonne liquefaction trains sequentially in 2017, 2018, and 2019, but it now plans to start the second train three months earlier than planned. The third train will come onstream six-to-nine months earlier while the first train may become operat