Novatek still bullish on Yamal LNG prospect

Cut off from Western financing, the Russian gas firm is relying on Chinese and Russian backers to fund its export project

Western sanctions on Russia have made progress more difficult at Yamal LNG, Novatek’s liquefied natural gas project on the northern peninsula. But Mark Gyetvay, the firm’s chief financial officer, says he remains hopeful that financing will be concluded for the $27bn development and that production from the plant will start in the second half of 2017.  “We underestimated the difficulties, given the sanctions environment, for closing some of the financing, particularly where it relates to Western banks. But, at the same time, it hasn’t really delayed the project, because the shareholders have continued to make investments,” Gyetvay told Petroleum Economist in an interview in Florence. Yamal L