Norilsk Nickel to sign a contract on 20,000-dwt oil-tanker building
Norilsk Nickel OJSC intends to sign a contract on building of high ice-class oil tanker of 20 thousand tons deadweight by the end of the current year. PortNews IAA journalist learnt from Nikolai Matyushenko, Deputy Head of production development department of Norilsk Nickel OJSC, in the course of I Murmansk International Economic Forum. Tender results on shipyard selection will be summed up as soon as possible.
As per Matyushenko, shipyards of Finland, Germany and Croatia are the most probable bidders to obtain this order. The approximate cost of the vessel building is Euro 90 million. The building term is 18 months.
Matyushenko informed the tanker will ship light oil products to Norilsk (Dudinka port, the Enisei river estuary) and ship gas condensate produced in Petelinskoe deposit ex Norilsk.
Matyushenko also highlighted, ‘Norilsk Nickel OJSC considers the perspective possibility of ice-breaker building for operation in the Enisei river after 2012’.
Sea fleet of Norilsk Nickel GMK comprises five vessels of reinforced ice-class. September, 2009 the company launched direct calls ex Dudinka port to European ports (Hamburg, Rotterdam).
Norilsk Nickel GMK is a diversified mining and smelting company, the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium and one of the leading producers of platinum and copper. It also produces various by-products, such as cobalt, chromium, rhodium, silver, gold, iridium, ruthenium, selenium, tellurium and sulfur.
The main Russian production units of Norilsk Nickel GMK group include: the Polar Division (“the Taimyr Peninsula”); and the Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company (“Kola MMC” or “the Kola Peninsula”). International assets of the company comprise production assets in Finland, Australia, Botswana and the Republic of South Africa.
The Dudinka port (Krasnoyarskii krai) is located across the Arctic on the right bank of the Enisei, 2,021 km northwards from Krasnoyarsk. It is the northernmost city in the world. The port has 24-hour calls to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, and river calls during summer navigation to Krasnoyarsk and Dixon.