Charter vessel for Sakhalin-2 project successfully navigates Northern Sea Route
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK. Oct 18 (Interfax) - The Yuri Topchev ice-class vessel, chartered by the Sakhalin-2 project's operator Sakhalin Energy, has successfully navigated the Northern Sea Route from Kholmsk in the Sakhalin region of the Russian Far East to the Port of Murmansk in European Russia, the company said in a press release.
"Yuri Topchev completed its mission on the Sakhalin-2 project and embarked on a new course - for demobilization as prescribed by the chartering contract," it said.
This is the first time that Sakhalin Energy has utilized such a route to ship a vessel from the Russian Far East to the European part of Russia.
"This route brought significant savings of costs, effort and time. For comparison, the same route through the Suez Canal would take 45 days, whereas Yuri Topchev spent only 21 days. The Northern Sea Route, despite challenging ice conditions, gives the opportunity to save fuel, reduce charter costs and avoid queuing. The Suez Canal has 18,000 vessels passing through it per year," the statement said.
"Although the company is not planning to use the route frequently (the company's major hydrocarbon deliveries are in the Asia-Pacific), this experience is of great value for Sakhalin Energy and Sakhalin-2 project development," Sakhalin Energy said.
The multi-functional ice-class vessel Yuri Topchev, which belongs to Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot LLC, was on duty at the Sakhalin-2 project's platforms on the northeastern shelf of Sakhalin. It was used to provide emergency rescue services to guarantee the safe functioning of platforms and immediate response in case of emergency. It is equipped with modern navigational and management tools and can maneuver in complex ice conditions.
Sakhalin Energy has four supply vessels, two standby vessels, two crew boats for personnel transfer, one OSR vessel and four port tugs. An additional standby vessel and an ice breaker can be used when needed, for example during the ice season. The company's marine fleet also includes five liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and three oil tankers chartered for hydrocarbon delivery to the customers.
As part of the Sakhalin-2 project, the Piltun-Astokhskoye and Lunskoye fields on the Sakhalin shelf are being developed, with 150 million tonnes of recoverable oil reserves and 500 billion cubic meters of recoverable gas reserves. The project's shareholders are Gazprom (50%), Royal Dutch Shell (27.5%), and Japan's Mitsui (12.5%) and Mitsubishi (10%).