Sovcomflot strengthens cooperation with partners at SPIEF-2018
On 24-25 May 2018, PAO Sovcomflot (SCF Group) headed by Sergey Frank, CEO of Sovcomflot, participated in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum-2018 (SPIEF). The delegation included Evgeny Ambrosov, First Deputy CEO, and Dmitriy Rusanov, Head of the Division of Development and Management of the Liquefied Natural Gas Fleet.
During the forum's activities on 24 May a delegation from CNPC, the largest Chinese oil and gas corporation, paid an official visit to the PAO Sovcomflot headquarters in Saint Petersburg. It included Wang Zhongcai, Vice President of PetroChina (part of CNPC), and Jiang Qi, Director General of CNPC’s Russian operation. During the visit the guests were acquainted with the work of the SCF Training & Engineering Centre.
At the SPIEF on 25 May, Sovcomflot and Rosnefteflot signed an agreement whereby SCF’s specialists will provide technical supervision during the construction of Aframax tankers at the Zvezda shipbuilding complex (Primorsky region). The agreement was signed in continuation of an agreement for the construction of state-of-the-art high-tech Aframax tankers at SSK Zvezda and their further long-term chartering, signed in 2017.
This series of tankers represents a new generation of vessels which will use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as their primary fuel, which will significantly enhance environmental protection. The technical specification of the tankers was designed by Sovcomflot's specialists, with the close involvement of the JSC Far Eastern Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Centre (FESRC).
On 25 May, Mr Frank delivered a report at the SPIEF plenary session "Uncovering the potential of the Arctic through the Northern Sea Route". Dmitry Kobylkin, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, Alexey Likhachev, CEO of the State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM, Alexey Rakhmanov, President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, and others also took part in the session.
The theme of Mr Frank's report was safe and efficient transport solutions for the Arctic energy projects. The President & CEO of Sovcomflot noted that SCF Group today is the world's biggest fleet operator of ice class vessels and has a unique experience of operations in high latitudes. The company's fleet safely provides the transport component for the largest industrial projects in the Arctic and Far East Sea Basins: Sakhalin-1; Sakhalin-2; Varandey; Prirazlomnoye; Novy Port, and Yamal LNG. From 2006 until today, over 4,000 shipments of energy have ocurred from marine and offshore terminals, with over 226 million tonnes of crude oil and 19 million tonnes of LNG safely transported using Sovcomflot’s vessels in the Arctic and Subarctic regions.
Mr Frank also noted the importance of the Northern Sea Route, as one of the key Russian and international trade routes, will steadily increase thanks to the presence of large mining projects in the Arctic and Subarctic regions. According to industry estimates, by 2030 shipments of minerals in the Arctic Basin may reach 80 million tonnes annually, with the main component attributable to oil, condensate and LNG.
According to Mr Frank, increased shipping intensity within the Arctic and Far east Sea basins will mean need for continual improvement in the use of applicable technologies, the training of top specialists building on the Russian school of ice navigation, active implementation of digital technologies, etc.
Mr Frank noted that taking into account the experience of the 2017-2018 winter navigation season, which turned out to be more challenging than in prior years, full compliance with the strictest navigational safety and environmental protection standards plays an important role in the fleet's operation in high latitudes. He also noted that a further development of the region's natural resources requires: the complete exclusion of sub-standard shipping; a full-scale development of navigational and hydrographic support within the region; a further improvement to the system of search-and-rescue operations; implementation of new engineering solutions and more environmentally-friendly fuel types, in particular the use of gas bunker fuel.
PAO Sovcomflot (SCF Group) is Russia’s largest shipping company, as well as a global leader in the maritime transportation of hydrocarbons and the servicing of offshore oil and gas exploration and production. The company’s own and chartered fleet includes 146 vessels with a total deadweight of 12.6 million tonnes. Half of the vessels have an ice class.
Sovcomflot is involved in servicing large oil and gas projects in Russia and around the world: Sakhalin-1; Sakhalin-2; Varandey; Prirazlomnoye; Novy Port; Yamal LNG, and Tangguh (Indonesia). The company is headquartered in Saint Petersburg, with offices in Moscow, Novorossiysk, Murmansk, Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, London, Limassol, and Dubai.
