The fleet of Arctic liquefied natural gas carriers planned to ferry the chilled fuel from Novatek’s Arctic LNG 2 project is expected to cost around $4.5 billion.
During the meeting of the state-owned VEB.RF Bank supervisory board it was noted that the fleet will consist of 15 tankers set to be built at the Russian Zvezda shipyard. The vessels will carry out navigation along the Northern Sea Route.
In a notice by the Russian government, it was noted the financing of the fleet has been discussed during the meeting with costs estimated at 300 billion Russian rubles ($4.5 billion). VEB’s project partners are Russia’s largest shipping company Sovcomflot and the Arctic LNG 2 project developer Novatek.
Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex has already scored a construction contract with Sovcomflot for a pilot LNG carrier for the Arctic LNG 2 project.
The pilot gas carrier for Arctic LNG-2 will comply with the technical requirements for the Christophe de Margerie LNG carrier ordered by Sovcomflot for Novatek’s Yamal LNG project in 2013 in South Korea.
To remind Christophe de Margerie is an Arc7 ice-class carrier able to navigate in ice fields of up to 2.1 meters thick as its bow and stern are covered with 70 millimeters of steel plates capable of withstanding temperatures of -52°C. It has the capacity to transport up to 172,600 cubic meters of LNG.
The shipbuilder said the delivery of the vessel is scheduled for the first quarter of 2023.