Following a meeting between the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, Yamal LNG signed a credit facility agreement with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to the tune of EUR200 million.

The loan agreement with JBIC, as well as the loan agreement with the bank Intesa Sanpaolo with insurance coverage by the Italian export credit agency SACE and the French export credit agency COFACE signed on December 12, 2016 are parts of the project financing package for the total amount equivalent to USD19 billion, including financing from Russian and Chinese banks and the National Welfare Fund of Russia.

“We welcome the participation of JBIC in the external financing package for the Yamal LNG project,” said the director general of Yamal LNG Evgeniy Kot. “The credit facility allows us to optimize our financing structure and represents an important step in developing our mutually beneficial cooperation with Japan,” the executive added.

Yamal LNG is a proposed liquefied natural gas plant at Sabetta, north-east of the Yamal Peninsula, Russia. The project is expected to cost USD27 billion. The planned LNG plant will have three trains with a total capacity of 16.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year. Full capacity is expected to be achieved by 2021. The plant will be designed and commissioned by a consortium of Technip and JGC Corporation, as well as Chiyoda. In addition to the LNG plant, the project includes the construction of a seaport and an airport, as well as a power plant. The power plant will be built by Technopromexport and its turbines will be supplied by Siemens.

The LNG plant will be supplied mainly from the Yuzhno-Tambeyskoye gas field. The main export market for the LNG would be China. LNG will be shipped to Asian markets through the Northeast Passage. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering is contracted to build sixteen double acting ice-class gas tankers for the project. Tankers will be chartered and operated by Sovcomflot.