Novatek chief says U.S. sanctions are a sign of our professionalism

SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan (Reuters) - Leonid Mikhelson, the head of Russian natural gas producer Novatek, said on Friday that U.S. sanctions against its future liquefied natural gas project Arctic LNG 2 were an "estimate of our professionalism".

Speaking at a conference in Samarkand, he also said that Qatar, Russia and the United States will be able to meet future global LNG demand.

The United States on Thursday imposed sweeping new measures against Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine, targeting Russia's future energy capabilities among other aims.

Arctic LNG-2 is led by Russian Novatek which holds a 60% stake. Other shareholders include French energy major TotalEnergies, China's CNPC and CNOOC Ltd as well as Japan Arctic LNG - a consortium of Mitsui & Co, Ltd. and JOGMEC - each holding 10% stake.

The project is expected to start producing the super-cooled gas at the end of this year or in early 2024 at its first technological line.

Arctic LNG 2 would be Russia's third large-scale project for producing LNG after a Gazprom-led Sakhalin 2 plant in Russia's Pacific and Yamal LNG controlled by Novatek. It would help Russia achieve its goal of gaining 20% of the global LNG market by 2035 from around 8% currently.

Arctic LNG 2's three lines will have production capacity of 6.6 million tonnes of LNG per year each. Investments in the project are estimated at $21.3 billion.

(Reporting by Olesya Astakhova; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)

By Olesya Astakhova