Quartet forms Northern Sea Route LNG transportation partnership

Russia’s Novatek, China COSCO Shipping Corporation, Sovcomflot and Silk Road Fund have signed an agreement regarding the Maritime Arctic Transport (MArT) joint venture. 

According to the agreement, the parties intend to establish a long-term partnership providing for the joint development, financing and implementing year-round logistics arrangements for shipping hydrocarbons from the Arctic zone of Russia to the Asia-Pacific region, Novatek said in its statement on Friday.

It added that the group intends to organize transit cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route between Asia and Western Europe, the statement reads.

“The agreement represents an important milestone in developing the transportation of LNG produced by our Arctic projects along the Northern Sea Route,” Leonid Mikhelson, Novatek’s chairman said.

“The development of MArT will facilitate the rapid transformation of the Northern Sea Route into a global and commercially effective transportation corridor between the Pacific and Atlantic basins, as well as in the implementation of the decision made by the leadership of the Russian Federation to increase Northern Sea Route annual cargo traffic to 80 million tons in 2024,” Mikhelson said.