Zvezda Shipyard Signs Contract with Sovkomflot to Build Arctic Gas Carrier for Arctic LNG 2 Project

Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex and Sovkomflot PJSC have signed a contract to make a pilot gas carrier vessel for the Arctic LNG 2 project. The contract states that the vessel shall be delivered in Q1 2023.

Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex has unique equipment for Russian shipyards, as well as advanced world-class technology, which provides for the implementation of such projects. Prior to the contract conclusion, Zvezda carried out a vast amount of work to be certified. It successfully passed an audit by Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT), Novatek PJSC, and ship-owners, and its capacity for construction of liquefied gas membrane storage systems was approved. Approximately 100 employees of Zvezda Shipyard underwent training in South Korea and France and learned to make modular vessels.

The pilot gas carrier vessel for Arctic LNG 2 will meet the design requirements for Christophe de Margerie vessels ordered for Novatek’s project in South Korea in 2013 in order to provide support to Yamal LNG and ensure year-round transportation of LNG in harsh ice conditions of the Kara Sea and the Gulf of Ob.

The tanker built at Zvezda Shipyard will comply with all the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation, thus ensuring its recognition as a Russian vessel.

For the first time in history, construction of a vessel of this class will be carried out at a Russian shipyard. It should be noted that the USSR had not been making such vessels, and for many years they had been ordered abroad.

The vessel’s design allows it ramming ice up to 2.1 m thick. Power package capacity of the gas carrier is 45 MW, which is comparable to the power of a nuclear-power icebreaker.

These tankers are distinguished by increased environmental safety; in particular, they are mainly powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).