Russian shipowner Sovcomflot and its Japanese joint venture partner, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), have signed long-term time charter contracts with Novatek Gas & Power Asia, a subsidiary of PAO Novatek, for four liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier newbuilds.
The 174.000 cu m vessels will be constructed at Samsung Heavy Industries and are slated for delivery from 2023 to 2024. They will be equipped with low-speed X-DF dual-fuel diesel engines with superior fuel-consumption efficiency, able to operate on boil-off gas stored in the cargo tank.
Sovcomflot president and CEO, Igor Tonkovidov, said: “The newly built gas carriers will meet all the current environmental requirements and will be compliant with the most stringent IMO rules and will contribute to further development of the Russian LNG export to the global markets. The contracts signed are an important step in the development of our cooperation with NYK. Together we are already implementing two LNG transportation projects – Sakhalin 2 and Tangguh.”
The new gas carriers will load cargoes produced by Novatek’s Arctic projects at two floating storage units (FSUs) 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.
