Fifteen LNG icebreakers for Arctic LNG 2

SMART LNG, a joint venture of the Russian companies Sovcomflot (SCF Group), specialized in fuel shipping, and NOVATEK, LNG producer, has signed contracts with VEB.RF Group, Russian economic development agency, and Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex for the construction of ten Arc7 LNG icebreakers for the shipment of liquid methane.

At the same time, SMART LNG has signed long-term charter agreements for these ten vessels with Arctic LNG 2, the liquefier operator under construction at the Utrenneye natural gas field in YNAO, Gydan Peninsula. The plant is about 70 km from the similar liquefaction plant in Yamal, which has been exporting LNG from the Siberian Arctic to Europe on the North Sea route since 2019.

This agreement completes the overall order for 15 icebreaker LNG tankers, including contracts for the first ship in the series, signed by SCF Group in October 2019, while contracts for the other four sister ships were signed by SMART LNG in January 2020.

The Arctic LNG 2 project was completed in October 2018; the final investment decision was taken in September 2019, followed by the construction contract (EPC) with TechnipFMC. More than 90% of the plant components have already been ordered. At the end of June 2020 the construction of the plant was about 21%. Hence the orders for the ships that will be available when the plant goes into operation.

Igor Tonkovidov, Chairman and CEO of SCF Group, commented: "These contracts will help to further develop our national experience in ice shipping and create over 850 new jobs for Russian seafarers. Equally significant is the fact that the cooperation between SCF, NOVATEK, VEB.RF Group and Russian shipbuilders paves the way to start the domestic production of LNG carriers with the adoption of advanced engineering technologies and solutions".

Sovcomflot (SCF Group) is one of the world's leading transportation companies for energy products and services to offshore oil and gas production. The Group's fleet includes 146 ships with a total deadweight tonnage of 12.6 million tons, including ships owned by joint ventures. More than eighty of these ships are icebreakers.

The company is also active in the maintenance of large oil and gas projects in Russia and around the world: Sakhalin-1; Sakhalin-2; Varandey; Prirazlomnoye; Novy Port; Yamal LNG and Tangguh (Indonesia). The group is based in St. Petersburg, with offices in Moscow, Novorossiysk, Murmansk, Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, London, Limassol and Dubai.