LNG exports from Russian independent Novatek's 17.4mn t/yr Yamal facility rose in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, with the start-up of the fourth liquefaction train boosting export capacity.
Yamal exported 4.79mn t in the second quarter of this year, up from 4.16mn t a year earlier and 4.43mn t in the first quarter, preliminary ship-tracking data from oil analytics firm Vortexa show. Exports recorded their strongest year-on-year growth in May and June, rising to 1.69mn t and 1.5mn t from 1.3mn t and 1.27mn t, respectively.
The rise in loadings compared with a year earlier may have been driven by the commissioning of the fourth 940,000 t/yr liquefaction train at the facility in early June, although it is unclear whether the train has loaded its first cargo.
The project's three existing 5.5mn t/yr trains are likely to have continued to produce above their nameplate capacity in the second quarter at a rate of around 20mn t/yr, which would be above the nameplate capacity of the whole facility, including the fourth train.
The start-up of the fourth train experienced problems that forced Novatek to interrupt testing for 2-3 weeks to reconstruct some of the equipment designed and produced for the train, the firm's chairman and co-owner Leonid Mikhelson said. Novatek expects occasional interruptions at the fourth train for another month or so.
NSR reopening supports higher exports to Asia
The reopening of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) in mid-June supported stronger flows from Yamal to northeast Asia in the second quarter, adding to increased transshipment capacity.
Yamal exported 22pc of its second-quarter output to northeast Asia, up from 16pc a year earlier, despite the NSR reopening on 14 June this year, compared with 18 May last year.
The belated start to the NSR transit season this year was not because of ice conditions on the route, which hinder transit during the winter and often dictate the start and finish of the summer transit season. Instead, contractual supply commitments kept deliveries heading west, Mikhelson said.
Four LNG cargoes have been shipped through the NSR since it reopened, up from three on 14-30 June a year earlier. Stronger deliveries to northeast Asian countries before the route reopened are likely to have been supported by increased capacity at the Murmansk transshipment site, which started operations in November. There were 13 cargoes transshipped and later delivered from Yamal LNG to Asia last quarter, up from nine a year earlier.
And a wider inter-basin des differential in recent weeks may have encouraged a rise in deliveries to the Pacific basin, while spot charter rates holding higher than a year earlier could have boosted the incentive for increased direct deliveries through the NSR once it had reopened, given that the availability of the passage circumvents the need for Novatek to charter additional supply carriers to make deliveries to the Pacific.
