Naming and flag hoisting ceremony for SCF’s first research vessel
Sovcomflot (SCF Group) held naming ceremony of the Group’s first ever 3D seismic survey vessel and raised Russian flag onboard the Vyacheslav Tikhonov on September 16 in Sochi, SCF press release said.
The vessel is designed for exploration on the continental shelf, especially in severe climatic conditions of the Arctic and subarctic seas.
“The ship was named after distinguished Russian film actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov," the Group statement said.
SCF Group acquired the ship under a bareboat charter agreement with Polarcus Limited, a leading company specializing in marine seismic survey across the world.
The modern X-bow 3D seismic survey vessel was built in August 2011 and is the youngest of the six currently existing vessels of this class in the world. The vessel features state-of-the-art equipment, special shape of the hull, bow and stern. The ship has 8 seismometer cable assemblies, optimized parameters for her diesel-electric propulsion system. These are technical solutions designed to maintain smooth operations at low temperatures, supported by the vessel’s enhanced ice-class and overall high safety standards, the Group said.
Sovcomflot President & CEO Sergey Frank says:
“Strengthening our fleet with the addition of this seismic vessel is fully in line with SCF’s strategy targeted towards providing specialised shipping services for Russia’s continental shelf. It is an important step towards developing a closer partnership between SCF, SMNG and the consortium of Rosneft and ExxonMobil in the marine seismic segment. The Russian fleet and domestic marine geology will gain access to the latest technologies for data collection, and this undoubtedly will contribute to cutting the technological gap between Russian subcontractors and the world’s leading seismic survey companies. It promotes import substitution of services, whilst upgrading Russia’s ageing seismic fleet and equipment”.