Russia Launches World’s Largest Floating LNG Facility Under Military Protection

By Malte Humpert (gCaptain) –

Russia isn’t taking any chances during the launch of its new flagship LNG project. Following ongoing Ukrainian operations against Russia’s energy infrastructure, the country’s military and Federal Security Services (FSB) are keeping a close eye on the Arctic LNG 2 project. 

Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter Novatek floated the second stage of the world’s largest floating LNG facility out of a drydock near Murmansk on July 25th aided by a fleet of tugs and offshore vessels. The project uses massive floating concrete platforms to house each production line.

Measuring 300m x 128m and 540,000 tons, the structure rivals Shell’s Prelude FLNG in size and weight.

At least two FSB patrol vessels and aerial assets will accompany the platform’s 1300 nautical mile voyage into the Arctic. Pictures taken along the initial phase of the towing operation in the Kola Bay also depict Russian military surface vessels and submarines in proximity of the platform.

In contrast to the launch of the first production line in August 2023, attended by President Putin, and widely publicized across Russian media, the sailaway of the second train has been kept much more under wraps. 

“In the interests of ensuring the safety of the floating modular plant, timely detection and suppression of possible sabotage and terrorist threats, a procedure for interaction during anti-terrorist exercises and training, as well as during counter-terrorist operations has been developed and approved,” the press service of the FSB reported.

The greatest risk to Arctic LNG 2 likely persists throughout the initial phase of the towing operation in the Kola Bay and along the Kola Peninsula. Ukrainian naval drone attacks have successfully disabled or destroyed a third of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. 

It will take approximately three weeks to move the platform through open waters of the Barents and Kara Sea. 

Novatek’s facilities have previously been the target of Ukrainian efforts to disrupt Russia’s energy export infrastructure. The company’s Ust-Luga export terminal and processing complex in the Baltics came under drone attack in January 2024. It took more than two months for the facility, which processes gas condensate into light and heavy naphtha, jet fuel, fuel oil and gasoil, to resume normal operations.

Long-range drone attacks have repeatedly hit major Russian refineries and fuel depots. The farthest such attack occurred in the ??Russia’s Bashkiria region in May, more than 1,500 km inside Russia territory. 

Once at its final location at the Utrenney terminal on the Gydan peninsula, some 3,000 km from Ukraine, Arctic LNG 2 will sit outside the current reach of Ukrainian drones.

Updated: August 6, 2024 (Originally published July 26, 2024)

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