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Chinese investors could finance Murmansk LNG
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According to Leonid Mikhelson, the companies CNPC and Silk Road Fund should be exempted dividend tax in project Yamal LNG. In return, the Chinese will re-invest the money in new LNG projects in the Arctic.
According to newspaper Kommersant, Leonid Mikhelson has already sent a request to the federal government about the issue.
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The Chinese companies CNPC and Silk Road Fund own 20 percent and 9,9 percent respectively of the Yamal LNG. In the Arctic LNG 2 project, the CNPC and CNOOC both own 10 percent stakes.
They all pay a 10 percent tax on dividends.
Reportedly, the Chinese companies have long called for a reduction of the tax, and Mikhelson now calls on government to follow up.
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The Novatek leader argues that the tax be fully exempted, alternatively reduced to five percent. French partner Total, which own 20 percent of the Yamal project, only pay 5 percent dividend tax.
In return, the Chinese companies will re-invest the money in new LNG projects, Mikhelson explains.
The request comes at the same time as Novatek announces plans for a new LNG project in the Kola Peninsula. The Murmansk LNG is to have a capacity of 20,4 million tons per year, and launch the first of three projected development trains already in 2027. The project will apply floating gravity-based structures built at Novatek’s Kola Yard in Belokamenka.
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The project also includes a pipeline connection from Murmansk to Volkhov, the gas distribution hub located near St.Petersburg, and it will take advantage of cheap electric power from the Kola Nuclear Power Station, Kommersant reported.
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