Norway Sweden Finland Murmansk Obl. Rep. of Karelia Arkhangelsk Obl. Nenets AO Rep. of Komi

First oil shipment planned for Northern Sea Route

2010-02-25
One of the ice-classed shuttle tankers operated by Sovcomflot loading oil at the Varandey offshore terminal.

One of the ice-classed shuttle tankers operated by Sovcomflot loading oil at the Varandey offshore terminal.
Photo: Sovcomflot

Sovcomflot intends to carry out a trail shipment of oil from the Varandey terminal in Nenets through the north coast of Siberia to Japan this summer.

Lloyd’s List reports that Sovcomflot will send one of its purpose-built 70.000 dwt ice-classed shuttle tankers to Japan with oil loaded at the Varandey terminal on the Pechora Sea coast.

Sovcomflot is Russia’s largest shipping company and has been shipping oil from the offshore offloading ice-resistant terminal at Varandey since 2007.

The shipment with crude oil planned for this summer will be the first ever oil tanker to sail the entire Northern Sea Route from Northwest Russia to Asia. Sovcomflot operates three special purpose built tankers for ice-covered waters for the shipment of oil from the Varandey terminal. These tankers, built in 2007, 2008 and 2009 have the capability to break through 2.5 m thick ice without icebreaker assistance.

Normally, the three shuttle tankers operated on the route to Murmansk where the oil is reloaded onto larger oil tankers and shipped to the U.S. or European market around the coast of Northern Norway.

Read also: Russia prepares law on Northern Sea Route

Last autumn two German merchant vessels belonging to the Beluga Group were the first to sail the Northern Sea Route from Asia to the outlet of the Siberia Ob River without ice-breaker assistance, as reported by BarentsObserver.

Sovcomflot is also planning to carry out its first test shipping of LNG through the Northern Sea Route. Last week BarentsObserver reported that Russian gas producer Novatek said they are planning to test the Northern Sea Route for huge LNG tankers in cooperation with Sevcomflot. The planned test shipment will go from the yet-to-be-built LNG plant on the Yamal Peninsula to the Asian markets via Siberia’s northern coast.

Read also: Welcome to the new Arctic

The Northern Sea route is open for less than two months in the late summer when the ice is at its minimum. The period of possible sailing along Siberia’s northern coast is however increasing due to the rapid ongoing climate changes.

The offshore loading terminal at Varandey is situated 22 km offshore and the waters around is ice-covered most of the year. On January 24th this year, the terminal marked that the first 10 million tons of crude oil shipment was completed, according to the website of Sovcomflot.
 

  •  Uikku did it in the 90's
    Posted by JET (jyri DOT tynkkynen AT yle DOT fi) [25.02 17:17]

      • In autumn 1997, the Uikku sailed the entire Northeast Passage
      Posted by Captain Juha Säävälä (Juha DOT Saavala AT elisanet DOT fi) [23.05 13:33]
      The oil pipeline built across Alaska and the practice of cabotage prevented the rewriting of the history of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. Finally, in 1993, a historic sailing, for the West, to the Russian Arctic took place, when the tanker Lunni took three cargoes of gas oil from Arkhangelsk along the NSR to the mouth of the Yana River. In the following year, the tanker Uikku joined the oil distribution chain in northern Siberia fitted with rebuilt engines and a diesel-electric azimuth propulsion system. Then, in autumn 1997, the Uikku sailed the entire Northeast Passage, the first Finnish and Western trade vessel to do so, fetching a cargo of diesel from Provideniya Bay.
      Both the Lunni and the Uikku, originally designed for the ice conditions in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia, have been kept busy transporting supplies to north Siberian towns and villages. Cargoes loaded in Murmansk and Archangel have sailed the Northeast Passage destined for river deltas in northern Russia, almost up to the Bering Strait. Each tanker has carried out two to four internal Russian oil transports in a four-month sailing season, but financial problems have sometimes delayed the return journey.


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