A joint venture between Sovcomflot and NYK has signed long-term time-charter contracts with NOVATEK Gas and Power Asia, a subsidiary of Russia’s independent gas producer Novatek, for four new 174,000 cub. m LNG carriers.
The ceremony held on 30 September via videoconference was attended by Sovcomflot’s President & CEO Igor Tonkovidov, Deputy Chairman of the Novatek Management Board Evgeniy Ambrosov, and Chief Executive of Energy Division at NYK Akira Kono.
According to Sovcomflot, the new gas carriers will load cargoes produced in the Arctic projects of PAO NOVATEK at two FSU’s (floating storage units), which will be located near Murmansk in the west and Kamchatka at the eastern end of the Northern Sea Route, to provide LNG shipments to final buyers in Europe and Asia, as well as for regular trade operations in the global market.
Sovcomflot and NYK, through a joint venture (50/50 share), have been selected to contract the vessels following a tender process launched earlier this year.
The vessels will feature modern design that meets the latest environmental requirements. The propulsion system, a low-speed X-DF dual-fuel diesel engine with superior fuel-consumption efficiency, able to operate on boil-off gas stored in the cargo tank. Each LNG carrier will be equipped with membrane-type tank of an advanced GTT Mark III Flex cargo containment system, which has insulating materials to suppress the boil-off rate up to 0,085 % per day and minimise cargo losses during transportation. A re-liquefaction unit on board of each ship will return gas to the cargo tank.