OREANDA-NEWS. Saudi Oil Corporation Saudi Aramco is interested in natural gas liquefaction (LNG) projects in different parts of the world, including Russia. This was reported to reporters by the head of Saudi Aramco, Amin Nasser, on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress in Abu Dhabi. "We have an interest in LNG projects in different parts of the world. Russia is one of them. We are negotiating with different companies from around the world", he said.

In early July, Khaled Al-Faleh, the then Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia, told reporters that Saudi Aramco would continue negotiations with Russian companies on participating in LNG projects. It was reported that the Saudi oil corporation is interested in a stake in the Arctic LNG-2 Novatek project, and is also considering other Russian projects. However, the parties ultimately failed to agree on the entry of Saudi Aramco into Arctic LNG-2. In September, Novatek announced the adoption of a final investment decision, which included Chinese and Japanese companies, as well as French Total.

Currently, two natural gas liquefaction projects are being implemented in Russia - the Sakhalin-2 project with a capacity of 10 million tons, co-owned by Gazprom (50% plus one share), Shell (27.5% minus one share), Mitsui (12.5%) and Mitsubishi (10%) and Yamal LNG with a capacity of about 16.5 million tons, the shareholders are Novatek (with a share of 50.1%), Total and CNPC (20% each) and Chinese Silk Road Fund (9.9%). Currently, Novatek is implementing the second LNG project in Yamal - Arctic LNG - 2 with a capacity of 19.8 million tons, in which Chinese CNOOC, CNPC, French Total, the Mitsui consortium and Jogmec each own 10%.

In addition to Arctic LNG-2, Novatek plans to build two more large plants in the region. In September, during the Eastern Economic Forum, firms decided to build another LNG plant in Russia.