Japan is interested in "Yamal LNG"

Japanese companies are interested in participation in the project "Yamal LNG" and scrutinize the opportunity to purchase a share in it, as it is informed on the website portnews.ru.

It was declared by a senior representative of the Japanese national company Japan Oil, Gas and Metals (JOGMEC) in answers to the question, if Japanese business scrutinized the opportunity to purchase 9 percent of shares of the project from "NOVATEK".

According to his words, Japan is interested in deliveries of Russian liquefied natural gas from Yamal because of unstable situation on the Middle East. A bigger part of deliveries goes from there. The representative of JOGMEC reminded that two years ago the head of NOVATEK Leonid Mikhelson had met with Japanese investors and discussed prospects of the project "Yamal LNG". JOGMEC as a state company cannot directly finance the project because of sanctions. However, it is ready to give funding to private Japanese companies, as the representative of the Japanese firm explains. Now NOVATEK has 60 percent in the project "Yamal LNG", Total (France) – 20 percent, CNPC (China) – 20 percent. "NOVATEK" wants to sell 9 percent of the project. According to the words of Leonid Mikhelson, the company is aimed at completion of negotiations about selling of the share before opening of external financing of the project, which is planned to attract till the middle of this year. At that, decrease of a share of "NOVATEK" in "Yamal LNG" lower than controlling interest is not considered.