On 30 January 2017, the naming ceremony took place for a new ice-breaking platform supply vessel (IBSV) built for Sakhalin-2 project, Sovcomflot says in a press release. The vessel was commissioned by SCF Group under a long-term agreement with Sakhalin Energy. She was named after Gennadiy Nevelskoy, a famous explorer of the Sakhalin Island and the Russian Far East. The new IBSV was built to the best practice standards of global shipbuilding industry, and the highest specifications set for vessels that operate in harsh environments.
Gennadiy Nevelskoy (deadweight 3,000 tonnes) will have Saint Petersburg as her home port and is registered under the Russian flag. She is the first of four vessels commissioned by SCF Group for operations at the Sakhalin-2 project. The other three are ice-breaking standby vessels (IBSBVs) that have a smaller deadweight (2,000 tonnes), but offer enhanced functionality and a higher people-on-board capacity.
The agreement between Sovcomflot and Sakhalin Energy, signed in 2014, involves the operation of these four vessels for twenty years under the Sakhalin-2 project. The vessels will be used for the year-round delivery of supplies and consumables to Sakhalin Energy's three offshore platforms in the Sea of Okhotsk, and for performing standby duty near the platforms. In an emergency, the vessels will also be used for integrated environmental protection and rescue operations.
The Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, which is providing technical supervision during the construction of all the four vessels, has assigned an ice class of Icebreaker 6 to the new IBSV.
The vessel naming ceremony was attended by Sergey Frank, President and CEO of PAO Sovcomflot, and Ole Myklestad, Sakhalin Energy's Production Director. Also present at the ceremony was Vladimir Evenko, Chief Engineer and Director of Classification Department of the Russian Marine Register of Shipping.
The vessel was sponsored by Ekaterina Sokolova, PhD, Research Professor at the Centre for Maritime International Studies of the Admiral Nevelskoy State Maritime University in Vladivostok.
Sergey Frank said: “The mutually advantageous cooperation between Sovcomflot and Sakhalin Energy has a 10-year history, and we pride ourselves in that it has been progressing year to year and expanding to a greater scale. Today, Sakhalin-2 operations are being serviced by eight Sovcomflot vessels, a number that we soon expect to increase to twelve. These positive dynamic reflects Sovcomflot’s strategic priorities that include the continuous expansion of Sovcomflot’s involvement in long-term energy projects, with a special focus on those being carried out in harsh environments. At the same time, adding Gennadiy Nevelskoy to our fleet enables us to strengthen Sovcomflot’s position as a global leader in the ice-breaking supply vessel class.”
Ole Myklestad said: “Gennady Nevelskoy PSV is currently the best vessel in its class. She was built in line with Russian and international maritime safety standards and is designed to operate successfully in the most challenging Arctic conditions. I am proud to tell you that over the next twenty years, she will make year-round supply runs, delivering equipment and materials to the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas platforms. Note that this multi-functional vessel can be used for emergency response purposes, further enhancing the safety of our operations.”
Sergey Frank added: “The rich historical experience of Russian-Finnish cooperation, in building vessels for Arctic and Sub-Arctic seas, constitutes a good basis for contemporary cooperation projects in this field. It is symbolic that the ship on which Gennadiy Nevelskoy carried out the Amur expedition, Baikal, was constructed in 1848 in Helsinki.”
Among those invited to the ceremony were representatives of the Admiral Nevelskoy State Maritime University (MSUN), one of Russia’s main maritime universities, which is also named after the renowned explorer. They were Vladimir Verevkin, Doctor of Science, Head of Electrical Systems and Automation of Ships Department at MSUN’s Maritime Institute for Information Technologies, and Evgeny Butyaev, a fifth-year cadet of the University.
Alexander Kukel-Kraevsky, great-great-grandson of Admiral Nevelskoy, sent a message of greeting, which was read at the ceremony. “The name that gives birth to this icebreaking vessel is symbolic. Indeed just one hundred and fifty years ago, having abandoned a quiet, satisfied and high achieving career, Captain-Lieutenant Nevelskoy with his team made significant achievements within wild and inhuman conditions, following great hardship and sometimes at the cost of life, by having explored and, in essence, having created the conditions for the development of the Russian Far East. One can say he gave birth to this region,” the message noted.
As part of the Sakhalin-2 project, SCF Group today already operates three platform supply vessels (SCF Endeavour, SCF Endurance, and SCF Enterprise), three Aframax crude oil shuttle tankers (Zaliv Aniva, Sakhalin Island, and Governor Farkhutdinov), and two LNG carriers (Grand Aniva and Grand Elena), both operated together with Japan’s NYK Line. All the vessels are operated under long-term time charter contracts with Sakhalin Energy.
PAO Sovcomflot (SCF Group) is one of the world's leading shipping companies, specialising in the transportation of crude oil, petroleum products, and liquefied gas, as well as servicing offshore upstream oil and gas installations and equipment. The Group’s fleet comprises 146 vessels with a total deadweight of over 13 million tonnes. The company is registered in St. Petersburg with offices in Moscow, Novorossiysk, Murmansk, Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, London, Limassol, and Dubai.
The Group offers a wide range of vessels in the market segments most demanded by major Russian oil and gas companies. With its own technical development and unique approach to advanced technologies, Sovcomflot can meet the most demanding customer requirements, providing effective transportation for oil & gas companies.
Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. (Sakhalin Energy) is the operator of Sakhalin-2, one of the world’s largest integrated oil and gas projects, which has developed major infrastructure for hydrocarbon production, transportation and processing. The company exports crude oil produced in the Sea of Okhotsk and the LNG produced at Russia’s first LNG plant built by Sakhalin Energy in the south of Sakhalin. Sakhalin Energy shareholders are Gazprom (50% plus 1 share), Royal Dutch Shell (27.5% minus one share), Mitsui (12.5%) and Mitsubishi (10%).
The project’s infrastructure created by the company includes, among other things, three offshore ice resistant platforms, the trans-Sakhalin pipeline system, which comprises 300 km long offshore pipelines, an onshore gas pipeline and an onshore oil pipeline, 800 km long each, the onshore processing facility (OPF), the oil export terminal (OET), and Russia’s first and so far the only LNG plant which accounts for over 4 percent of the world’s LNG. The key buyers of Sakhalin Energy’s crude oil and LNG are the Asia-Pacific countries. Sakhalin Energy exports LNG and crude oil to the power generating companies in Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Malaysia.
Gennadiy Nevelskoy (1813-1876) was an explorer of the Russian Far East, admiral, and full member of the Russian Geographical Society. In 1849-1855, he organized and led the Amur expedition, during which his team explored the estuary of the Amur River and proved that Sakhalin was an island separated from the mainland by a strait. In 1850, Nevelskoy founded Nikolayevsk-on-Amur. After the expedition, he explored banks of the Amur River, the Amur Liman, and the Tatar Strait, the continental parts of Amur region, Ussuri region, and Sakhalin Island. His later years were devoted to naval science and classification of the material gathered during his expeditions. Nevelskoy also wrote the book “Heroic Deeds of Russian Naval Officers in Russia's Extreme East, 1849-1855”.