The third production line of the Yamal liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in northern Russia recently began production, bringing Yamal up to its full capacity.

Yamal is the largest economic cooperation project between China and Russia. Located in Russia's Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic, the project is jointly owned by Novatek (50.1%), China National Petroleum Corporation (20%), French oil major Total (20%), and China's Silk Road Fund (9.9%).

The project has an annual production capacity of 25 billion cubic metres of natural gas, 16.5 million metric tons of LNG and 1 million tons of condensate. A fleet of LNG carriers (many Chinese owned) has been requisitioned to transport the LNG. During the summer months they can sail the northern route to make deliveries to China, while in the winter months the gas is taken westwards towards Europe and then onwards to Asia via the Suez Canal.

In August, Yamal shipped the first LNG cargo from the second train at the plant. In late September, Yamal announced that the 68th cargo offloaded from the Yamal LNG project onto the Arc7 ice-class tanker Christophe de Margerie, meaning that 5 million tons of LNG had been produced since the start-up of LNG train 1 in December 2017.

Yamal LNG utilizes the hydrocarbon resources of the South-Tambeyskoye field on the Yamal peninsula located in the Arctic territory of the Russian Federation.