Joint venture companies belonging to Russian energy shipping company Sovcomflot and Japanese NYK Line have signed a new USD 176 million non-recourse credit facility for eight years with three international banks, to be used for refinancing two ice-class LNG carriers servicing the Sakhalin-2 project.
On 26 August, the LNG-fueled Aframax crude oil tanker ‘Korolev Prospect’, owned by Russian Sovcomflot, began a transit of the Northern Sea Route. The ship will become the first such large-capacity crude oil tanker to travel the entire length of the Northern Sea Route using only LNG fuel.
On 11 December 2018 the world’s first LNG icebreaker, Christophe de Margerie, loaded the first batch of liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced at the third train of Yamal LNG plant, at the Port of Sabetta on the Yamal Peninsula. This has been achieved a year ahead of the initial schedule and within the original budget.
Russian shipping company Sovcomflot announced that its large-capacity LNG-fueled LNG tanker ‘Lomonosov Prospect’ successfully completed a commercial voyage along the Northern Sea Route on 30 October 2018, delivering a cargo of petroleum products from the Republic of Korea to Northern Europe.
On 22 October 2018, Sovcomflot’s crude oil tanker ‘Gagarin Prospect’, which runs on LNG, completed its voyage across the Baltic and North Seas from Primorsk to Rotterdam. The ship delivered 104,815 tonnes of crude oil. ‘Gagarin Prospect’ is the world’s first Aframax crude oil tanker designed to operate on LNG.
On 12 September 2018, Sovcomflot, the Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs and VEB Leasing, signed a trilateral agreement regarding the participation of the parties in shipbuilding projects at Russian shipyards and in import substitution projects.
Christophe de Margerie, the icebreaking LNG carrier owned and operated by Russian Sovcomflot (SCF Group), has crossed the Northern Sea Route in a new record time for a merchant ship without icebreaker support, during the month of July, the company announced.
Russian Sovcomflot and Novatek signed an agreement on transport support for the Yamal LNG, Arctic LNG-2 projects and other Arctic projects of Novatek. The agreement regards the transportation of hydrocarbons such as LNG and gas condensate from Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG-2 project.
Recently, a milestone was set for Arctic shipping. Namely, the tanker “Eduard Toll” became the first ever ship to sail through the Northern Sea Route during winter, without the help of an icebreaker. Teekay’s “Eduard Toll” started from South Korea in December 2017, heading to the Sabetta LNG terminal in Russia.
Russian shipping company Sovcomflot signed time-charter agreements with Shell for two LNG fueled Aframax tankers. The vessels are part of a series of six SCF Group tankers that are currently under construction and will be delivered between the third quarter if 2018 and the first quarter of 2019.
