Novatek Forms Its Own Shipping Company

The Board of Directors of PAO Novatek, one of the largest independent natural gas producers in Russia, has decided to set up a transportation subsidiary called Maritime Arctic Transport LLC.

The new company is being established with the aim of managing and optimizing transportation costs, building up the Arctic navigation capabilities as well ensuring a centralized management of the Arctic fleet.

“Novatek’s long-term development strategy envisages a significant growth in LNG production from the company’s vast hydrocarbon resource base located on the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas in the Arctic zone of more than 55 million tons per annum by 2030,” Novatek’s Chairman of the Management Board, Leonid Mikhelson, said.

“Therefore, establishing an efficient Northern Sea Route shipping model is one of our key priorities to realize our long-term strategy. Creating our own shipping company fully supports this goal and will optimize transport cost and ensure a well-balanced, centralized management structure to improve the competitiveness of Novatek’s Arctic projects.”

Novatek, together with its partners Total, CNPC and the Silk Road Fund, owns Russia’s Arctic gas project Yamal LNG.

The project marked a major milestone this month with the shipment of the second million of liquefied natural gas produced at its first LNG train.

The first LNG train commenced LNG production in the fourth quarter of 2017 with the loading of the inaugural tanker on December 8, 2017. Since then, Arc7 ice class carriers, each holding 170 thousand cubic meters or around 74 thousand tons of LNG, have shipped over two million tons of LNG from the facility.

Source: worldmaritimenews