Rosnefteflot, a subsidiary of Russia’s petroleum company Rosneft, has inked agreements with compatriot Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex for construction of ten Arctic shuttle tankers.
At the same time Rosnefteflot and Taimyrneftegaz signed an agreement for 20 year time chartering of these tankers.
Each tankers will be with 42,000 t deadweight each. ARC7 ice class tankers are designed for operations in the conditions with ice thickness up to 1.8 m and ambient temperature of down to 45 degrees.
The new series of tankers is to be used for transportation of crude produced at Paiyakhskoe field from the mouth of Enisey river along the Northern Sea Route both in the western and eastern directions.
The vessels will be built under the supervision of the Russian Maritime Register and will be operated under the flag of the Russian Federation. Phased delivery of tankers to the customer is planned starting from 2023.
The project implementation will support development of the shipbuilding and industrial cluster and localization of production of vessel equipment in the Far East of Russia, it will ensure creation of capability for designing of Arctic shuttle tankers in the Russian Federation and development of an optimum order book for loading of Zvezda shipbuilding complex.
New order of Rosneft for construction of ten Arctic shuttle tankers is the largest series order for ice class ships in the history of the Russian shipyards.
Zvezda Shipyard is set up in Bolshoy Kamen, Primorsky Region. The shipbuilding complex design provides for the construction of a heavy outfitting berth, a dry dock, full-cycle production shops, and shops for the construction of offshore marine facilities.
The Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex will produce heavy tonnage ships, elements of offshore platforms, ice-class vessels, special vessels and other marine equipment. Earlier Rosneft placed an order for construction of ten Aframax tankers in Zvezda Shipyard.