In particular, the Agreement envisages wider cooperation on Sakhalin-2 project, elaboration of joint decisions related to transport-and-logistics support of gas fields development at Yamal peninsula, further improvement of LNG transportation technologies including that in difficult ice conditions like projects for construction of floating LNG plants and vessels with regasification plants on board for gasification of Russia’s remote territories.
According to Sergei Frank, head of the Russian company, “the newly signed Agreement makes it possible to integrate the enormous experience of Shell in LNG production and transportation with the skills and technical potential of Sovcomflot in cargo transportation under difficult ice conditions of Arctic and Far Eastern seas. The target of this long-term international project is to develop high-efficiency and environmentally friendly transport-and-logistics solutions for Russia’s future oil and gas projects at the continental shelf of Arctic and the Far East.”
As Yan Koerniki, Shell Vice President said at the signing ceremony, “Shell and Sovcomflot have already established cooperation in training of specialists for LNG carriers and for Sakhalin-2 project. The newly signed Agreement will contribute to further development of this cooperation and will help to use the experience accumulated by the two companies in the sphere LNG transportation and work in the Arctic to support Russia’s perspective LNG projects. We have also signed agreements on oil transportation which speaks for the breadth of our cooperation.”
Sovcomflot OJSC is Russia’s largest shipping company and the world’s fifth-largest tanker company. Its fleet comprises 133 vessels with total deadweight of some 9.5 million tonnes. The Group’s current backlog of orders numbers 28 vessels with total deadweight of 2.7 million tonnes. The average age of the Group’s tanker fleet is six years (against the world’s average age of 12 years). The Sovcomflot Group is the global leader in MR product carriers, the second largest in the Aframax segment and it owns the biggest ice-class fleet.
Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited – is an English-Dutch commercial and shipping concern.