Russian Zvezda yard has started building the third ice-class ARC7 carrier that will serve the Novatek-operated Arctic LNG 2 project.
The yard held a steel cutting ceremony on Monday for the third carrier out of fifteen on order, it said in a statement.
To remind, Zvezda launched works on the first vessel in November last year. Russia’s largest shipping firm Sovcomflot ordered this vessel directly at the compatriot yard.
Novatek, Sovcomflot and VEB.RF finalized the construction and charter deals for the other 14 vessels with Zvezda in September last year.
Additionally, Arctic LNG 2 entered into a charter deal for the vessels with SMART LNG, a venture consisting of Novatek and Sovcomflot.
Zvezda started building the second vessel in this batch in January this year.
Each vessel will have capacity of more than 172,000 cubic metres. They will be 300 metres long and over 48 metres wide and feature GTT’s Mark III containment system.
The construction of these carriers will ensure year-round transport of LNG along the Northern Sea Route to the Asia-Pacific region.
Moreover, it will also provide an important stimulus to develop the Russian shipbuilding industry.
Located on the Gydan peninsula, Arctic LNG 2 includes the construction of three trains with a capacity of 6.6 mtpa, each, using gravity-based structure platforms.
Novatek expects to launch the first LNG train in 2023, with trains 2 and 3 to follow in 2024 and 2026, respectively.
Besides operator Novatek, the project partners include Total, CNPC, CNOOC, and the consortium of Mitsui and JOGMEC.