Arctic LNG2, which aims to build a gigantic liquefaction plant to export natural gas to Europe and Asia, is strongly contested for its environmental impacts.
By and
The Mégaprojet Gas Arctic LNG 2, very disputed by environmental defense associations, will finally be without a public guarantee of the French state. The information has been confirmed in the world of government sources, Wednesday 1 er December. The Russian Novatek company, the main project leader with the French group TotalEnergies (21.6% direct or indirect participation), had announced the day before having obtained nearly ten billion euros of financing of Russian and international banks.
The gigantic liquefaction factory already under construction in the Russian Arctic, a zone very impacted by the climate change, should produce nearly twenty million tonnes of gas per year, intended for Europe and in Asia. France first considered supporting this project through export guarantees. Thanks to this mechanism, the country is guaranteed loans for French companies across the public investment bank, BPIFRANCE. In any discretion, and in particular because of the pressure of NGOs, it finally renounced it.
According to a source close to the file, BPIFRANCE did not respond to the loan application formulated by the French company Technip, also part of the project. While the first Gas project of Totalnergies in the Arctic, Yamal LNG, commissioned since 2017 with Novatek, had benefited from French public guarantees, nor the multinational or Technip wanted to speak on the fact that Paris N ‘ Granting Export Guarantee to Arctic LNG 2, whose activity must begin in 2023. According to Technip, this project “is important for replacing coal by natural gas, particularly in Asian countries where energy requirements are very high and allow to accelerate the energy transition “.
Despite this lack of French support, Novatek said Tuesday have lifted 9.5 billion euros in the form of borrowings “for a period of up to 15 years”. This amount includes 2.5 billion euros from China, such as its development bank and its export and import bank. Another amount of 2.5 billion will come from financial institutions of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), including Japan, or Italy through the Italian Export Credit Agency. Finally, most of the loans (4.5 billion euros) will be based on Russian banks.
You have 56.07% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.