"The United States has once again demonstrated that they intend to kill Novatek"

Alexey Belogoryev, Research and Development Director of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to Novye Izvestia on the consequences of new sanctions against the Arctic LNG 2 plant.

— What is the meaning of the new restrictions of the US Treasury Department on Novatek?

— Vessels that supplied exclusively equipment were sanctioned. They are involved in the construction of the second stage of the plant. The first stage has already been put into operation. The second one is currently being actively built.

These sanctions may probably lead to some slowdown in construction, especially for Hong Kong and Singapore companies. This will have little effect on Russian companies, but it is difficult to say about foreign ones. They can probably get out of the project.

— Total Energy and the Japanese stopped financing the plant two years ago. Sanctions do not affect investments, there may be additional costs for the plant operator and delays. But in the current conditions, even if the second stage of the plant is commissioned six months later, it has little effect, because the main problem of the plant is the lack of the gas carrier fleet.

The United States has once again demonstrated that they intend to kill this plant. This means that there will be new sanctions, we need to prepare for them. I think that's what Novatek is doing.