Russia's slow trains

Hit by sanctions and with big pipeline-export projects to digest, Russian LNG supply will grow more sedately than once planned

NOT LONG ago, Russia was destined to become one of the world’s biggest hitting liquefied natural gas exporters, with ambitions to add more than 50m tonnes a year (t/y) of capacity. The number may be reached, but almost certainly not in the next 10 years. Sanctions and a weakening market outlook have intervened. The one new project that could start operations in short order is Yamal LNG, a $27bn, 16.5m- t/y, three-train project on Russia’s northern coast. Russia’s Novatek (51%) and France’s Total (20%) are behind it. A further 20% is owned by China’s CNPC, with the rest held by a Chinese investment fund. Yamal wants to sell to China and the rest of Asia in one direction and Europe in the othe