The largest independent gas producer Novatek has announced on 25 November that it has completed Russia’s first ship-to-ship LNG transshipment in the Kildin Strait of the Barents Sea.
The Arc7 ice-class LNG tanker “Nikolay Yevgenov” successfully reloaded an LNG cargo delivered from the Yamal LNG facility at Sabetta to the conventional tanker “Yamal Spirit”.
The ship-to-ship transfer was conducted at a temporary LNG Offshore Transshipment Complex in the Murmansk region within the seaport of Murmansk. The LNG Transshipment Complex will ensure uninterrupted year-round LNG transshipment from the ice-class tankers carrying LNG produced in the Russian Arctic to conventional LNG tankers.
The safety of navigation was ensured by the seaport of Murmansk and Rosmorport. The transshipment operations were conducted in compliance with all applicable Russian environmental requirements, and included representatives from NOVATEK-Western Arctic, the Russian and foreign shipowners, auxiliary fleet operators and the LNG transshipment operators.
The ship-to-ship transshipment complex in the Murmansk Region represents another significant milestone in developing Novatek’s LNG supply chain from the LNG facilities located in the Russian Arctic to the global natural gas consuming markets. The creation of the transshipment infrastructure allows Novatek to develop its internal competencies to perform LNG transshipment in the Russian Federation, as well as optimizing the Arctic tanker fleet.
Image Credit: Sergey Nikitin/MarineTraffic.com
