On September 2, 2009, the hundredth batch of oil was shipped by Arctic shuttle tankers of Vasily Dinkov type owned by Sovcomflot OJSC from the ice-strengthened berth of the Varandey terminal located some 22 km from the shore of the Barents Sea. As of today, Sovcomflot vessels carried 6.8 million tonnes of oil (8 mln m3) in ice-bound conditions, Sovcomflot press center reports.
Currently this unique project on sea transportation of oil is being successfully serviced by three vessels – Vasily Dinkov, Kapitan Gotsky and Timofey Guzhenko (deployed in December 2007, in 2008 and in 2009 respectively). All the vessels of the series demonstrate efficient year-round operation in ice-bound conditions of Arctic seas. High ice-breaking capacity of the ship, when moving both bow or astern, reduces the maneuvering time and strengthens the safety of the vessel, the company says.
Arctic tankers of Vasily Dinkov type have proved their efficiency in conditions with extreme temperature. Arctic tankers can operate without icebreakers’ assistance despite difficult ice-bound conditions.
The first batch of oil was shipped via the Varandey terminal in June 2008. The Varandey oil export terminal located in the Barents Sea in Nenets Autonomous District is designed for offshore export of the oil extracted by LUKOIL in Timan-Pechora oil and gas province. The terminal comprises the following facilities: on-shore tank farm with design capacity of 325,000 cubic meters, ice-strengthened berth some 22 km from the shore, two subsurface pipelines with the diameter of 820 mm each linking the tank farm and the berth, oil metering station, auxiliary tanks, pumping station, power supply facilities, base camp and other technological facilities.
Read more about the terminal in Relevant Topic of the PortNews website.