By 2011, shipbuilding plant Severnaya Verf (St. Petersburg) plans to start construction of the first LNG carrier, RBC reports with reference to Andrei Fomichev, the yard’s Director General. According to Fomichev, the company counts on such an order from Gazprom.
By 2020, Severnaya Verf is to build 20 LNG tankers, Fomichev said in St. Petersburg at the 8th International Conference and Exhibition for Oil and Gas Resources Development of the Russian Arctic and CIS Continental Shelf. According to Fomichev, the yard’s shareholders have already allocated resources for this project implementation though he didn’t disclose the amount.
As it was reported earlier, United Industrial Corporation (OPK) – major shareholder of Severnaya Verf – plans to attract VTB’s credit to the amount of $550 million for expansion of operations including arrangements for construction of new types of vessels.
Severnaya Verf plans to build gas carriers in view of Arctic shelf development. The capacity of the 216,000-dwt newbuilds is to be some 100,000 tonnes of liquefied gas. The RF Ministry of Industry and Energy have initiated development of project for construction of up-to-date shipbuilding complexes known as super-yards capable of building 500,000-dwt vessels. One of the requirements to such complexes is specialized production of LNG tanks.