MOSCOW, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Novatek, Russia's largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), may start loading first cargo from the Arctic LNG 2 plant in February, TASS news agency cited Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as saying on Thursday.
"According to the information, with which the company provides us, that looks like the month of February," Novak said in response to a question on loadings from the project, which the United States put under sanctions in November over the Ukrainian conflict.
Two industry sources told Reuters last week that the Arctic LNG 2 project was set to load its first liquefied LNG tanker for Asia at the end of January, despite disruptive U.S. sanctions, while initial volumes are expected to be small.
One of the sources said the first cargo's delivery is expected at the end of the month, and the destination could be either China or South Korea.
The U.S. sanctions led to force majeure on LNG supply from the project as well as reportedly forcing foreign shareholders to suspend their participation.
With three processing trains, Arctic LNG 2's capacity is meant to be 19.8 million metric tons per year and 1.6 million tons per year of stable gas condensate.
The first train has already started tentative production while two other trains are yet to be delivered to the project's site in the Gydan peninsular from a plant in Murmansk. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Leslie Adler)
