Spotted: Gazprom Neft’s Arch7 Tanker Tests the Waters

Well this is a sight we don’t see every day. In today’s spotted we present you the Shturman (Navigator) Albanov, the first of six Gazprom Neft’s Arch7-class tankers built to ensure year-round oil transportation from Novy port in Russia.

The image shows the ship’s rudder before the tanker was launched successfully last week and got the first taste of water.

Named in honour of the navigator of the Brusilov polar expedition aboard the Svyataya (St) Anna gun vessel, the tanker can move along channels previously cut by nuclear icebreakers. It has been designed for the climatic conditions of the Arctic and the shallow waters of the Gulf of Ob.

The Shturman Albanov’s total cargo capacity is approx. 38,000 tonnes of oil, what is more than twice of the Arch5-class tankers’ capacity. The maximum draught of the fresh water is 9.5 meters.

“Once all six tankers have been brought into operation they will be able to transport about 450,000 tonnes of oil per month, allowing us to dispatch up to 5.5 million tonnes of oil from the Novoportovskoye field every year,” Anatoly Cherner, Gazprom Neft Deputy CEO for Logistics, Processing and Sales, commented.

The Shturman Albanov can, unaccompanied by an icebreaker, negotiate ice up to 1.8 meters thick at its stern, and up to 1.4 meters thick at the bow. The tanker has a steerable propulsion unit that is able to perform a 360-turn on its axis, giving it additional manoeuvrability in moving both forward and aft.