Russia's Novatek Says Yamal LNG Seen Expanding By 1 Million Tonnes

LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Russia's Novatek plans to expand the Yamal LNG project by one more train with a capacity of 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year, the company's head, Leonid Mikhelson, said on Tuesday.

He told a briefing in London that the first part of Yamal LNG will be launched by year-end, while other trains will be commissioned ahead of schedule.

The second train is expected to be launched in the third quarter of 2018, while the third train will start working in the first quarter of 2019.

The last train of the project is due to start operation by the end of 2019.

Total Yamal LNG capacity is seen at 17.5 million tonnes of LNG per year, taking into account the fourth train.

(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Adrian Croft)