In January-June 2017, Sovcomflot vessels carried about 20 mln t of crude oil from Russian projects in the Arctic, Sergey Frank, President and CEO of PAO Sovcomflot, told RF Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during their meeting on 10 July 2017, says official website of the Russian Government.
“First of all, I would say that winter period of the round-the-year navigation in the Arctic is principally over. Some winter effects can be seen in the Gulf of Ob in June. Now, it is safe to say that we have passed the winter navigation, - said Sergey Frank. – The company’s fleet provided sustainable and safe services to all Russian projects in the Arctic/subarctic zone, throughout those six months we ensured safe delivery of almost 20 mln t of crude oil to the ports of destination. Some of those works were just technically impossible some years ago.”
Sovcomflot says its vessels were servicing oil & gas project on the continental shelf of the Sakhalin island and in the Arctic region where oil was shipped from remote ice-resistant terminals.
Total amount of crude oil transported by the company’s vessels throughout its operation under the Varandei (Barents Sea) Prirazlomnoye (Pechora Sea), Novy Port (Kara Sea) and Sakhalin-1/Sakhalin-2 (Okhotsk Sea) projects exceeded 200 mln t. Transportation of LNG exceeded 16 mln t.
According to Sovcomflot, highlights of the winter navigation period of 2016-2017 are as follows:
- large capacity vessels of the Shturman Albanov series successfully performed round-the-year transportation of crude oil from the Gulf of Ob (Cape Kamenny) for the first time in the history of commercial shipping.
- consistent work on improvement of icebreaker assistance to large capacity vessels on the Northern Sea Route was continued in cooperation with FSUE Atomflot. In late December 2016 – early January 2017, a convoy of ships lead by the nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy successfully passed the Northern Sea Route from the most challenging, eastern, region of the Arctic westwards. That voyage has thus considerably extended the navigation window. The Shturman Ovtsyn tanker joined the convoy in the Bering Strait and covered 2,400 nautical miles up to the Gulf of Ob in the Kara Sea.
- having successfully completed ice trials in the Kara and Laptev seas in February-March 2017, unique Arctic LNG tanker Christophe de Margerie (ice class - Arc7), successfully berthed at the gas terminal of port Sabetta.
At the meeting with the Prime Minister, President and CEO of Sovcomflot said that the rate of the company’s work in the Arctic is growing.
“In this respect, I, on behalf of the maritime shipping community, would ask you and the Government support that rate of development of the Northern Sea Route infrastructure, both icebreaking, navigational and geographical, everything within the area of state responsibility since the growth of volumes certainly requires appropriate measures to ensure safe navigation”, said Sergey Frank.
The Prime Minister confirmed that all obligations of the state, executive authorities and the government will be fulfilled taking into consideration the previous decisions on the development of navigation, shipping and shipbuilding.
SCF Group (PAO Sovcomflot) 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 oil & gas production. The company’s fleet numbers 149 vessels with a combined deadweight of 13.1 million tonnes. SCF Group specialises in the shipping of crude oil, liquefied gas and a wide range of oil products. The Group’s vessels perform complex towing operations and geophysical survey work at offshore oil & gas fields. Sovcomflot supports large-scale offshore energy projects in Russia and overseas, including: Sakhalin-I, Sakhalin-II, Varandey, Tangguh, Peregrino, Prirazlomnoye, Noviy Port, Yamal LNG and others. SCF Group employs over 9,300 personnel both on land and at sea. The company is registered in Saint-Petersburg and has representative offices in Moscow, Novorossiysk, Murmansk, Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, London, Limassol, Madrid, Singapore and Dubai.