Russian natural gas producers Novatek informed that it shipped its first cargo of LNG from the Yamal LNG project to China via the Northern Sea Route on July 19. An official ceremony was held to commemorate the arrival of the LNG tankers ‘Vladimir Rusanov’ and ‘Eduard Toll’ to the Chinese port of Jiangsu Rudong.
The voyage time from the port of Sabetta through the Northern Sea Route to the destination port was completed in 19 days as compared to 35 days for the traditional eastern route via the Suez Canal and the Strait of Malacca.
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Yamal LNG will use a fleet of 15 Arc7 ice-class LNG carriers with cargo capacity over 170 thousand cubic meters each to transport LNG to key consuming regions.
To transport LNG from Yamal, Novatek built an LNG carrier which is able to transport the LNG from the Russian Arctic region without the escort of an ice-breaker.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman of NOVATEK’s Management Board said that the Northern Sea Route reduces transportation time and costs. By using this route, Northern regions will be benefited as well, something that it is very important for Russia’s economic development.
Another LNG tanker, Christoph de Margerie, sailed the NSR last year before the opening of the Yamal LNG plant, carrying a cargo from Equinor’s Snoehvit LNG plant in the Barents Sea. This was the first LNG tanker to sail through the NSR without an ice-breaker support vessel.
Back in November 2012, Gazprom’s Ob River LNG carrier had also tested the route carrying a Norwegian cargo to Japan. At that time the vessel was supported by two atomic ice-breakers.
