The 174,000-cbm Marshal Vasilevskiy has delivered a Yamal LNG cargo to India’s Dabhol regasification plant, after completing a voyage across the Northern Sea Route.
Prior to delivering the shipment at GAIL’s Dabhol terminal, Marshal Vasilevskiy picked up the cargo at the Novatek-operated Yamal LNG plant in the Russian Arctic on September 23.
“On the way to India, the vessel passed along the NSR and then entered the ports of Singapore and Colombo. The whole journey took exactly a month,” Gazprom Export said in a statement.
This marked the first-ever shipment via the NSR for the vessel, Gazprom Export said.
The Russian LNG cargo was delivered within the long-term contract with India’s GAIL, it said.
Gazprom Flot, a unit of Russian gas giant Gazprom, owns the ice-class Arc4 FSRU which can serve as an LNG carrier. Gazprom Export charters it, while Russia’s largest shipping firm Sovcomflot manages the vessel.
This voyage also marked the first time an FSRU crossed the NSR.
Besides this, the shipment also represents the first direct cargo from Yamal LNG to India, according to a report by Reuters.
Previously, India had received Yamal LNG volumes only via ship-to-ship transfers at Zeebrugge or other European terminals, the agency claims.