Russia’s Novak: Saudi’s Falih to oversee launch of Arctic LNG plant

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih will travel to the Russian Arctic to oversee the launch of a liquefied natural gas plant, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday.

The two energy ministers will visit the plant this week. The Yamal LNG plant, controlled by Russia’s largest private gas producer Novatek, is expected to eventually produce 17.5 million tons of gas per year.

Novak said in July that energy cooperation with Saudi Arabia was “top-flight” and would deepen if Riyadh took up an offer to participate in Russia’s Arctic gas project.

Badra oilfield investment

Russia’s Gazprom Neft and its partners developing Iraq’s Badra oilfield plan to invest a further $2.5 billion in the project until 2030, Gazprom Neft Chief Executive Alexander Dyukov said on Wednesday.

So far, investments by an international consortium which includes Gazprom Neft, South Korea’s Kogas, Malaysia’s Petronas, and Turkey’s TPAO, have amounted to $4.0 billion.

Gazprom Neft is the project operator.

The oilfield is now producing 85,000 barrels per day, Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said.

Its associated gas plant would increase output to 50 million cubic feet (mcf)/day in the first quarter of 2018, up from 35 mcf/day now, he added.

Iraq could import natural gas from Iran to be processed at the Badra gas facility, Luaibi said.

Meanwhile, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in comments posted on his Twitter page thatthe government of Iraq has no objections regarding operations by Russian oil companies in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in comments posted on his Twitter page.