Yamal LNG Completes 1st STS LNG Transshipment in Norway

Yamal LNG has completed the first ship-to-ship (STS) LNG transshipment in the area near the port of Honningsvag in northern Norway.

Illustration. Image Courtesy: President of Russia/CC 4.0 license

The Arc7 ice-class LNG tanker Vladimir Rusanov reloaded some 170,000 cbm of LNG delivered from the Yamal LNG facility at Sabetta to the lower ice-class designated tanker Pskov on November 24, 2018.

Upon completion of the transshipment, Pskov proceeded toward the planned port of discharge.

“The first ship-to-ship LNG transshipment is a very important commercial milestone for us,” Lev Feodosyev, Novatek’s First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, commented.

“This approach allows us to optimize our transport costs by decreasing the travel distance of the Arc7 ice-class tankers and to ensure timely offloading of LNG from Yamal LNG project,” he explained.

“The experience we gain from ship-to-ship LNG transshipments will be used at our future large-scale LNG transshipment projects in Kamchatka and the Murmansk region,” Feodosyev added.

The Yamal LNG joint venture is owned by Novatek (50.1%), Total (20%), CNPC (20%) and Silk Road Fund (9.9%).

Launched in late 2013, Yamal LNG leverages the immense onshore gas resources of Russia’s Yamal Peninsula. It envisages nearly 16.5 million metric tons of LNG to transit through the port of Sabetta per annum, with all LNG production sold to customers in Europe and Asia under 15- to 20-year contracts.

A series of 15 ice-breaking Arc7-ice class LNG carriers was ordered to service the Yamal LNG project, providing year-round transportation of LNG in the challenging ice conditions of the Kara Sea. In December 2017, the first LNG cargo produced by Yamal LNG at Sabetta was transported by the pilot vessel of the series, Christophe de Margerie, operated by Sovcomflot.