MOSCOW, March 20 (RIA Novosti) – Yamal LNG, a joint venture between Russia’s largest independent gas producer Novatek and France’s energy firm Total, has been granted permission to build a liquefied natural gas plant in the Russian Arctic, the company said on Wednesday.

The joint venture, majority-owned by Novatek with an 80 percent stake, received a positive assessment from the State Expert Commission for the project and permission to build the LNG plant at the port of Sabetta on the Yamal Peninsula, the company said.

The LNG plant will liquefy gas that will flow from the giant South Tambei gas field on the Yamal Peninsula. The field has Category C1+C2 reserves of 1.26 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 51.6 million metric tons of gas condensate.

Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson said last week the company was studying tender bids from consortiums on the LNG plant construction, with a final decision expected in the next few weeks.

The Yamal LNG project envisages building the plant in two stages with a capacity of 15 million tons each. A final investment decision on the project has not yet been taken. The project also stipulates the establishment of a seaport at Sabetta and the construction of an ice-class tanker fleet.

The first LNG shipment by tankers from the port is scheduled for 2016.