Rosneft’s subsidiary, Rosnefteflot, signed an agreement with Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex for the construction of ten Arctic shuttle tankers with 42,000t deadweight each. At the same time, Rosnefteflot and Taimyrneftegaz signed an agreement for 20 year time chartering of these tankers.
The 42,000t ARC7 ice class tankers will be able to operate in conditions with ice thickness up to 1.8 m and ambient temperature of down to 45 degrees.
The new series of tankers is to be used for transportation of crude produced at Paiyakhskoe field from the mouth of Enisey river along the Northern Sea Route both in the western and eastern directions.
The Russian Maritime Register will supervise the construction of the vessels, which will be Russian flagged.
This project is expected to support development of the shipbuilding and industrial cluster and localization of production of vessel equipment in the Far East of Russia and it will ensure the creation of capability for designing of Arctic shuttle tankers in the Russian Federation. Furthermore, it will enhance the development of an optimum order book for loading of Zvezda shipbuilding complex.
The ice class tanker will be delivered gradually, starting from 2023. This order is the largest series order for ice class ships in the history of the Russian shipyards.
