Sovcomflot to join shipbuilding consortium with Rosneft, Gazprombank
ST. PETERSBURG. Sept 10 (Interfax) - Sovcomflot will participate in the consortium that Rosneft and Gazprombank (GPB) plan to form to manage the Zvezda shipyard for construction of offshore oil platforms that will get a portion of the shipbuilding assets of United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC).
"We will operate via Gazprombank," Gazprom Deputy CEO Valery Golubev told journalists on Tuesday at a conference on development of the shelf. "Sovcomflot has agreed to participate in the consortium. Namely from the standpoint of organizing financing for construction of this complex [Zvezda]," Golubev said.
Gazprom needs to acquire 12 gas carriers by 2020, he said. The carriers, with capacity for 170,000 tonnes, are to be built at the Zvezda shipyard. The first ship is to be completed by 2018, Golubev said.
President Vladimir Putin earlier expressed support for the idea of transferring Zvezda and several USC shipbuilding assets under the management of the consortium of Rosneft and Gazprombank.
Zvezda will build ice-class ships, offshore platforms and gas carriers for Rosneft and Gazprom shelf projects.
USC, formed in 2007, is the biggest shipbuilding holding company in Russia. It is wholly owned by the state.
Sovcomflot is Russia's largest shipping company and one of the world's largest tanker operators, specializing in transporting oil, petroleum products, and liquefied gas. Sovcomflot is wholly state owned. The fleet consisted of 159 ships with over 12 million tonnes of deadweight as of June 30, 2013.
