Steel cutting ceremony held for Sovcomflot’s pilot gas carrier under Yamal LNG project (photo)
The ceremony of cutting steel for the pilot gas tanker ordered by Sovcomflot Group for transportation of liquefied natural gas under Yamal LNG project was held the shipyard of Daewoo Shipbuilding&Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (S. Korea) on September 29, 2014, the Group’s press center says.
The vessel will be operated under a long-term time charter agreement between Sovcomflot and Yamal LNG OJSC.
The steel cutting ceremony was attended by the representatives of Sovcomflot, Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS), Bureau Veritas (BV) etc.
Sovcomflot was consulting Yamal LNG OJSC on designing of gas carriers and on optimization of the project’s logistic costs basing on the Group’s long experience of work in Arctic seas and operation of its own gas carriers. Hence the unique design with unrivaled technical characteristics.
The vessel temporary known as Yamalmax has the capacity of 172.600 cbm, length of 300 m and width of 50 m. The tanker’s ice class Arc7 (according to RS classification) will be able to move in 2.1 meter thick field ice. The gas carrier’s deadweight is ab. 85,000 t, maximum draught - ab. 11.70 m, cruising speed – 19.5 knots. The propulsion unit includes three azipods with total power of 45 MW which is comparable to the power of nuclear icebreaker Rossija (55 MW). Cargo tanks of reinforced membrane type guarantee safe transportation of gas along the Northern Sea Route which is confirmed by the studies carried by classification societies and shore trials performed by GTT, designer of cargo systems.
The parent ship will fly the flag of the Russian Federation and supposed to be used for training of crews for Arctic LNG carriers and for practicing of shipping in severe ice conditions of high-latitude Arctic seas.
Sovcomflot Group (SCF) is Russia’s largest shipping company and a world leader in the maritime transportation of hydrocarbons as well as the servicing and support of offshore exploration and oil & gas production. SCF is the largest operator of ice class LNG gas carriers in the world. The company’s fleet (owned & chartered) specialises in hydrocarbon transportation from regions with challenging icy conditions and includes 157 vessels with a combined deadweight of over 12 million tonnes. A third of these vessels have a high ice class. Sovcomflot supports large-scale offshore energy projects in Russia and overseas, including: Sakhalin-I, Sakhalin-II, Varandey, Prirazlomnoye, Tangguh, and Peregrino. The company is registered in Saint-Petersburg and has representative offices in Moscow, Novorossiysk, Murmansk, Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, London, Limassol, Madrid, Singapore and Dubai.
