Two 73,300-dwt LNG tankers delivered to Sovcomflot at Pusan shipyard
The naming ceremony for two liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers, Tangguh Batur and Tangguh Towuti, took place on 10 October 2008, Sovcomflot press center reports. The ships are equipped with membrane-type tanks, enabling them to each transport 145,700 m3 of gas. They were constructed at the Daewoo Shipping Marine Engineering shipyard for a Russian-Japanese-Indonesian consortium of shipping companies – Sovcomflot; Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line) and Samudera Shipping Services. The vessels will serve the international natural gas project – Tangguh (Indonesia).
At a ceremony which took place at the Daewoo shipyard in Pusan (Republic of Korea), the Russian partners were represented by Nikolay Tokarev, President of Transneft, Vladimir Pakhomov, Director General of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (OSK) and Sergey Frank, CEO of Sovcomflot.
Delivery of the vessels to their new owners is an important stage in the Tangguh Project, which is operated by British Petroleum (BP). Over the next twenty years, Tangguh Batur and Tangguh Towuti will deliver gas to countries of the Asia-Pacific Region (APAC), mainly to the Republic of Korea and China. The importance of LNG deliveries to the APAC nations is growing annually. Implementation of the Tangguh Project is expected to contribute to the strengthening of relations in energy sector between the APAC countries.
Sergey Frank, CEO of Sovcomflot said that the participation of Sovcomflot, Russia’s largest shipping group, in the implementation of the Tangguh International Project demonstrates the growing presence of Russia’s ship owners in the region. It also underlines the fact that Sovcomflot’s standards of technical management meet the highest international industry standards, with the company now a serious player in the LNG shipping sector. Sovcomflot has the ability to be a key partner in the implementation of complex gas projects, including the provision of transportation and logistical support for offshore oil and gas production in Russia’s Far-Eastern and Arctic seas.
Fair winds and smooth sailing! This is what we say to seamen putting to sea and what we wish for Sovcomflot’s newest tankers to join the fleet of Russia’s largest shipping group.
The Tangguh Project is being implemented by the consortium led by BP Berau. The plant’s capacity is 7.6 million tons of LNG a year. The main markets: Republic of Korea, China and the USA, via the Baja California terminal (Mexico). Deliveries are due to be started in the first half of 2009.
In June 2005 Sovcomflot and NYK jointly won an international tender for the transportation of LNG for the Tagguh Project.
Eight companies and groups were competing, including such majors as Exmar, AP Moeller, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Teekay and MOL/K-Line. The Tangguh Project operators required seven LNG tankers of 130,000 – 160,000 m3 capacity.
The offers were examined against various criteria including; freight rates; the availability of a vessel or its term of construction; the vessel’s capacity. The offer made by Sovcomflot/NYK was the most competitive, which resulted in it winning the tender.
Ship dimensions:
LOA – 285.4 metres
Moulded Breadth – 43.4 metres
Capacity – 145,700 m3
Deadweight – 73,300 tonnes
The vessels are each is capable of carrying sufficient gas to meet the annual needs of 200,000 Russian households.
Sovcomflot Group is Russia’s largest shipping company. Its fleet is amongst the five leading tanker companies in the world and comprises 130 vessels with a total deadweight (dwt) of 9.3 million tonnes. The Group has a new-building order book of 30 vessels with an aggregate deadweight of 2.9 million tonnes. The average age of vessel in the tanker fleet is about six years (the world average age is 12 years). The Sovcomflot Group is the global leader in the product carrier and Aframax tanker segments as well as ice-class LNG tankers and Arctic shuttle tankers. These market segments are the most in demand for Russia’s foreign trade.