LNG

Russia is proceeding with the world’s largest LNG trans-shipment facilities at near the ports of Murmansk and Kamchatka and has received financing for the two floating storage barges being built in South Korea.

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) signed the newbuild deal in 2019 with the project participants, Russian natural gas company Novatek and Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines.

The agreement with DSME is for two very large FSUs worth a total of $750 million and each of the vessels will have capacity of up to 360,000 cubic metres.

Russia's Gazprombank, the finance arm of the natural gas company Gazprom, confirmed it would lend $600M to fund most of the vessel construction costs for Novatek and MOL.

Gazprombank’s loan is denominated in euros and amounts to €522 over a term of 16 years.

The storage facilities will transport LNG from the Arctic-ice class gas carriers to conventional vessels and will be used along the Northern Sea Route, including for Novatek’s Arctic LNG II project which is under construction on the Gydan Peninsula.

Two floating facilities will be set up at Novatek’s gas hubs in the Murmansk region and in the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s Far East.

Korea's Daewoo shipyard expects the FSUs to be completed by the end of 2022, well ahead of the scheduled start-up of Arctic LNG II.

Murmansk will be used for cargoes heading for Western Europe and the Kamchatka base for Asia-bound cargoes.

The FSUs will also store LNG from the Yamal project in Arctic Russia and transfer loads to ice-breaking LNG ships or conventional LNG carriers.

The proposed trans-shipment projects and land stations are expected to be partly financed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

The Norwegian logistical and ship management company, Tschudi Shipping, had previously handled the reloading operations off Norway for Russian Yamal LNG trans-shipments after it signed an agreement with Novatek in September 2018.

During 2018 and early 2019 Novatek and its partners used an area off the Norwegian port of Honningsvag as a trans-shipment point for several million tonnes of LNG transferred.
The last LNG tanker left Honningsvag at the start of July 2019.

Russia is proceeding with the world’s largest LNG trans-shipment facilities at the ports of Murmansk and Kamchatka and has signed contracts with a South Korean shipyard to build two floating storage barges as part of the project.

An area off the coast of Russia to the north of the port of Murmansk in the Barents Sea is being prepared by Russian natural gas company Novatek and the authorities for Yamal LNG trans-shipments for the winter supply season when the Northern Sea Route is closed and extra shipping is also required for high volumes and long shuttle trips.

Novatek, the Russian operator of the Yamal liquefied natural gas plant at Sabetta in northern Siberia, said it was in talks to trans-ship its cargoes from Norway or the Russian port of Murmansk because it is unsure of the impact of US sanctions on the Chinese COSCO tankers it uses or US-listed shipping line Teekay LNG.

Novatek, operator of the Yamal LNG plant and lead developer of the Arctic II LNG project, has signed an agreement with Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines to cooperate on the construction of LNG trans-shipment stations on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East and near the Barents Sea port of Murmansk.

Novatek, the Russian natural company and owner of the Yamal LNG export plant in northern Siberia, has formally ended its re-loading activities offshore the Norwegian port of Honningsvag that saw several million tonnes of LNG transferred from Ice-class carriers to conventional vessels and shipped to European terminals and beyond.