Russia will spend 9 billion U.S. dollars to order another 30 ice-breaking LNG ships, build the world's most powerful LNG ship fleet, and promote the realization of the "national shipbuilding" of LNG ships.
Recently, at the 2021 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Yevgeny Ambrosov, director of offshore operations, shipping and logistics of Russian energy giant Novatek, announced that Novatek’s LNG fleet will reach 65 by 2026. This number is almost 4 times the size of the current Novatek fleet.
Ambrosov stated that this will be the world’s most powerful LNG fleet. “In terms of quantity, Qatar’s fleet may be larger, but in terms of value, complexity and capabilities, Novatek’s fleet will be The most powerful." He emphasized that most of the LNG fleet will be built in Russia.
Novatek currently operates 15 Arc7 ice-breaking LNG ships for the transportation of LNG cargo for its Arctic Yamal LNG project. In addition, Novatek has 21 ice-breaking LNG ships under construction in South Korea and Russia. According to Novatek's 65 ship targets, the company also needs to order about 30 new ships. Based on the construction cost of about 300 million U.S. dollars per icebreaker LNG ship, the order value will be close to 9 billion U.S. dollars.
Russia's Red Star Shipyard (Zvezda) will be the biggest winner of Novatek's fleet expansion plan. Red Star Shipyard is the first shipyard in Russia to build large-scale LNG ships. It will build 15 ice-breaking LNG ships for Novatek's Arctic LNG export project Arctic LNG 2. These ships will be delivered in succession starting in 2023, flying the Russian flag.
According to International Shipping Network, the Arc7 ice-breaking LNG ship of the Arctic LNG 2 project is 300 meters long, 48.8 meters wide, and has a cargo tank capacity of 172,600 cubic meters. It will use LNG as the main fuel, and its power plant will have a power of 45 MW. The icebreaker has the same power, can safely transport LNG, and break the ice thickness of 2.1 meters at minus 52 degrees Celsius. These LNG ships will use GTT's Mark III cargo containment system, which meets all the requirements set by the Russian Federation.
It is reported that Red Star Shipyard has selected South Korea's Samsung Heavy Work as its technical partner to assist in the construction of the LNG ship for the Arctic LNG 2 project. According to the agreement, Red Star Shipyard will initially focus on low-tech construction projects such as hulls and general equipment. Among these 15 LNG ships, Samsung Heavy Industries will be responsible for the construction of the first 5 ships, as well as the steel pretreatment and cutting of the last 10 ships. In addition, the substructure of the hull will also be made at the Samsung Heavy Industries Geoje Shipyard.
In addition to Red Star Shipyard and Samsung Heavy Industries, in October last year, Novatek ordered six additional Arc7 icebreaking LNG ships at Daewoo Shipbuilding in South Korea, each at a cost of approximately US$262 million. This is the second time Daewoo Shipbuilding will build an LNG ship for Novatek after it won an order for 15 icebreaking LNG ships from the Yamal LNG project in 2014.
Compared with the 15 ships of the Yamal LNG project, Novatek's new-generation Arc7 ice-breaking LNG ship design can ensure a year-round voyage on the North Sea Route (NSR), including the eastern section, thereby speeding up the implementation of Russia's plan to increase the cargo volume of the North Sea Route. With these state-of-the-art ice-breaking LNG ships, the LNG cargo of the Arctic LNG 2 project can be transported to the Asia-Pacific region along the North Sea route throughout the year.
