SCF increases OSV fleet involvement in Sakhalin-2

Russia’s Sovcomflot (SCF) has increased the participation of its offshore fleet in the Sakhalin-2 project in the Okhotsk Sea with additional multi-purpose icebreaking supply vessels.

The company said on Wednesday that SCF, Sakhalin Energy, and Swire Pacific Offshore have signed several agreements that entail the purchase of two platform supply vessels from Swire Pacific Offshore by SCF.

That means that all three platform supply vessels used in the Sakhalin-2 project will now be operated by SCF under long-term time charter contracts with Sakhalin Energy. The three ships are multi-purpose ice-class (Ice-10) supply vessels, which have been under the management of the joint venture SCF Swire Offshore since 2009.

SCF added that, under the signed agreements, the vessels will continue to be used for year-round delivery of supplies and consumables to three production platforms in the Sea of Okhotsk. In the event of an emergency, the vessels will be able to provide environmental protection and platform personnel safety services, including platform evacuation and fire suppression.

Ole Myklestad, Sakhalin Energy’s Production Director, said: “Sakhalin Energy continues to expand mutually beneficial long-term cooperation with Russian companies.

“The expansion of cooperation with Sovcomflot will allow the company to optimize the contract management process, provide a possibility to charter platform supply vessels on a long-term basis and increase the share of Russian participation.”

[mappress mapid=”3054″]

Evgeny Ambrosov, Senior Executive Vice-President and COO of Sovcomflot, said: “The expansion of Sovcomflot’s participation in the Sakhalin-2 project is in line with the development strategy of SCF Group, which is aimed at increasing the portfolio of projects with a long-term fixed return. The deal made has enabled the company to significantly strengthen its leadership position in the segment of specialized vessels designed to provide safe operation of offshore production platforms in Arctic and sub-Arctic areas of the world’s oceans.

“We are pleased that the mutually beneficial cooperation between Sovcomflot and Sakhalin Energy, which has already lasted for over ten years, has received a new impetus.

“There will be even larger-scale cooperation between Sovcomflot and Sakhalin Energy in the near future. Two years ago, the parties agreed on the construction and long-term operation of four multifunctional ice-class vessels under the Sakhalin-2 project. The first vessel of the series – Gennady Nevelskoy – has been already launched and will soon join the SCF fleet. We are confident that the new stage of cooperation between Sovcomflot and Sakhalin Energy will be as productive and mutually beneficial as in previous years.”

To remind, Offshore Energy Today reported on the keel laying ceremony for the new vessel back in December 2015.

The company also said that SCF operates three Aframax shuttle tankers for the Sahkalin-2 project (Zaliv Aniva, Sakhalin Island and Governor Farkhutdinov) and, in partnership with the Japanese NYK Line, two LNG tankers, each with a capacity of 145,000 cubic meters (Grand Aniva and Grand Elena). All these vessels are on long-term time charter contracts with Sakhalin Energy and are used to transport hydrocarbons from the port of Prigorodnoye to Asia-Pacific countries.

The Sakhalin-2 Project is an oil and gas development offshore Russia managed and operated by Sakhalin Energy Investment Company which is a consortium between Gazprom (50% plus one share), Shell (27.5% minus one share), Mitsui (12.5%) and Mitsubishi (10%).