It is the Russian gas producer Novatek that now says they are planning to test the Northern Sea route for huge LNG tankers in cooperation with Sovkomflot, Russia’s state owned petroleum shipping company.
Interviewed by Reuters, Novatek Chief Financial Officer Mark Gyetvay says the company is planning to send a very large tanker to the Asian marked via the Northern Sea route.
- If we are able to do that successfully in conjunction with Sovkomflot this potentially reduces the transport by about 30 percent to the Asia-Pacific market, Gyetvay told Reuters.
Last summer BarentsObserver reported that Novatek will develop the Termo-Karstovoye gas field on the Yamal Peninsula together with the French petroleum company Total. Total bought a 49 percent stake in the Novatek owned unit set to develop the gas field.
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Total is together with Norwegian Statoil partner with Gazprom in Shtokman Development AG, the world’s largest off-shore gas field to be developed in the Barents Sea.
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.
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.
It is not said when the first test shippig of LNG from the to-be-constructed LNG plant on the Yamal Peninsula to the Asian markets will take place.
