Languages

Going Arctic, Rosneft eyes acquisition of Murmansk shipyard

The shipyard No 82 in Roslyakovo might end up on the hands of Rosneft.

The state-owned oil company might take over control of the Zvezda yard in the Russian Far East, as well as the Roslyakovo yard outside Murmansk, as part of a government bid to boost Russian offshore capacities.

Location

The Russian government is reportedly highly dissatisfied with the way the United Shipbuilding Corportation is developing equipment for the offshore oil and gas industry and considers radical steps to change the situation. According to newspaper Kommersant, Deputy Premier Dmitry Rogozin might establish a new shipbuilding consortium which is headed by Igor Sechin’s Rosneft.

The new consortium might include Rosneft (40%), Gazprombank (40%) and the United Shipbuilding Corporation (20%), and will be responsible for turning of the the aging Zvezda yard in to a modern super-yard for construction of oil and gas vessels and offshore equipment.

According to Kommersant, also the Roslyakovo yard (yard No 82) outside Murmansk might be included in the new unit.

“This is the way it will be”, Dmitry Rogozin confirms at his Twitter account.

The Zvezda yard has long been projected to become a Russian center for the development of offshore petroleum equipment. However, the United Shipbuilding Corportation, a state enterprise managing a number of Russia’s main shipyards, has failed to meet schedules and follow up plans.

The speculations over the fate of the Shipbuilding Corporation’s role in Russian non-military shipbuilding comes as Rosneft is going full steam in its development of Arctic offshore oil and gas projects. The company has acquired a number of licenses to prospective fields and is eager to develop both infrastructure and project equipment. The company is reportedly ready to provide the guarantees necessary for credits to be released from Gazprombank.

The total development sum for the new Zvezda yard is believed to amount to about 100 billion RUB (€2,3 billion).

Both the the Zvezda and the Roslyakovo yards have until now been enterprises working closely for the Navy, primarily with the service and repair of nuclear submarines.