Teekay kicks off construction of Arctic LNG carriers

Teekay LNG Partners on Monday informed a steel cutting ceremony at the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard marked the start of construction of its second Yamal LNG icebreaker newbuild.

The ship, Rudolf Samoylovich, is named after a Russian polar explorer participating in geological expedition to Spitsbergen in 1912, Zeppelin expedition in 1931 and other expeditions on icebreakers in the thirties, the company said in its statement.

Rudolf Samoylovich is Teekay’s second 172,000-cbm ARC7 LNG carrier newbuild of six to be built for the Yamal LNG project in Northern Russia.

The first newbuild, Eduard Toll, began construction earlier this year with the steel cutting completed in April. Both vessels have been named after Russian explorers known for their arctic and polar expeditions.

The Yamal LNG project is expected to produce 16.5 million metric tons of LNG annually.