LNG Transshipment Facility to Be Built Near Murmansk

The Murmansk Special Economic Area known as the Capital of Arctic will be made larger to accommodate an LNG transshipment facility for Yamal LNG, a major gas development project in the Russian Arctic. The governmental ordinance with regard to the enlargement was signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on 12 February 2022.

The facility will be used to reload the liquid natural gas shipped from the Sabetta Port by ice-class LNG carriers to conventional tankers, which, in turn, will deliver it to buyers throughout Europe. This solution is intended to improve the cost-effectiveness of the project’s delivery operations, with ice-class LNG tankers, which are known to be more expensive to operate than conventional ones, being no longer required to carry their cargo outside the Arctic. At present, such transfer is performed in a ship-to-ship mode off the Barents Sea coast. The construction of a permanent transshipment facility will make this procedure safer and more controllable.

According to the Federal Government, the project will be implemented in 2022-2023. It will bring more jobs to Murmansk Oblast, while becoming one of the region’s major taxpayers.