The construction of a series of Arctic LNG carriers sees progress, as in November, two more gas carriers were delivered to owners for Novatek-operated Yamal LNG project and the keel of a new gas carrier was laid, the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) informed.
As explained, the two gas carriers, “BORIS VILKITSKY” and “FEDOR LITKE”, are capable of all year round operation at temperatures up to – 50 °С, while high ice class Arc7 allows them to navigate independently in the ice of up to 2,1 m thick when moving astern.
In addition, the ships are equipped with three Azipod propulsion units of 45 MW joint capacity, which is comparable to the capacity of a nuclear icebreaker. A new membrane-type gas containment system GT NO96 GW used in cargo tanks with a total capacity of 172,600 m3, ensures safe LNG transportation through the Northern Sea Route.
A series of 15 LNG carriers is being constructed at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering shipyard in the Republic of Korea, as part of the implementation of the large-scale LNG production project Yamal LNG.
Russia’s Yamal LNG is an integrated project encompassing natural gas production, liquefaction and shipping. The project consists of construction of a LNG plant with an output capacity of around 16.5 million tons per year, using the South Tambey Field as a resource base.
The first tanker that was specifically built for the Yamal LNG project is the ‘Christophe de Margerie’, an Arc7 ice-class LNG tanker, that may be used for year-round navigation without the escort of icebreakers through the Northern Sea Route (NSR) towards Western direction and for summer season navigation towards Eastern direction.