Yamal LNG Tanker Sails through Northern Route to S Korea

The Christophe de Margerie LNG tanker completed the first commercial trip covering the Northern Sea Route in a record time of 6.5 days, the press service of Russia’s largest shipping company Sovcomflot announced August 22.

Novatek announced that the tanker had left Norway with its cargo of LNG August 1.

In total it took 22 days for the LNG tanker to cover the whole distance of the commercial trip from Norway to South Korea.

The Christophe de Margerie was built for Sovcomflot to provide year-round transportation for LNG in the difficult ice conditions of the Kara Sea and Gulf of Ob, as part of the Novatek-led Yamal LNG project. The vessel was commissioned by Sovcomflot on 27 March 2017 following her successful ice trials in the Arctic Ocean.

The project involves the creation of transport infrastructure, including a seaport and an airport near the Sabetta village, north-east of the Yamal Peninsula. The company’s shareholders are Russia’s gas company Novatek with 50.1%, France’s Total with 20%, China’s CNPC with 20% and its Silk Road Fund with 9.9%.

The Northern Sea Route is the main sea route in the Russian Arctic. Russia's transport ministry forecasts cargo turnover along the Northern Sea Route by 2020 will grow tenfold to 65mn mt/yr. The route crosses the Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukotka seas in the Atlantic; and partially also the Pacific Ocean (the Bering Sea).

Azerbaijan desk