Sovcomflot and Rosnefteflot signed an agreement whereby SCF’s specialists will provide technical supervision during the construction of Rosneft’s new LNG-fuelled Aframax tankers at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
This latest step is part of a package of agreements, signed in 2017, involving the construction of LNG-fuelled Aframax tankers for Rosneft, using the latest technology, in partnership with Zvezda shipbuilding complex in Primorsky region, and their subsequent long-term chartering.
The tankers will have a deadweight of 114,000 tons and a 1A ice class, which means they are able to operate all year round in areas with difficult ice conditions.
This series of tankers represents a new generation of vessels, which will use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as their primary fuel, enabling environmental emissions to be reduced significantly. The technical specification of the tankers reflects international restrictions on the emission of sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and greenhouse gases, which will take effect from 2020 and will apply, amongst other things, to the Baltic and North Sea areas.
Vessels fueled by LNG will reduce emissions of sulphur oxides and low-dispersive particles by 100 per cent, nitrogen oxides by 85% and carbon dioxide by 27% when compared with conventional engines using marine diesel.
The vessels will be built at Hyundai Heavy Industries, which a partner of the Zvezda shipbuilding complex. The vessels are expected to begin operations in 2021.
“We hope that in the future the construction of such new generation large-capacity tankers, with LNG-fuelled engines, in Russia will encourage the development of the necessary infrastructure, which enables vessels to bunker with LNG at ports in Russia”, Evgeny Ambrosov, Senior Executive Vice President of Sovcomflot.
“SCF Group already provides technical management for three Rosneft-owned ice-class tankers (“RN Arkhangelsk”, “RN Murmansk”, and “RN Privodino”, each of 30,000 tonnes deadweight), all of them engaged in transporting oil and petroleum products across the Baltic Sea and in the Arctic,” he added.