TABLE-New Arc7 class Arctic vessel heads for Yamal LNG facility
LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - A new ice-breaking liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker of the Arc7 class, the Nikolay Yevgenov, is due to arrive this week in Sabetta, the Arctic Russian port of Novatek's Yamal plant, Refinitiv shipping data showed on Monday.
The tanker is off the west coast of Ireland at the moment, having left the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) Okpo shipyard in South Korea at the end of April, Refinitiv Eikon shipping data showed.
It is due to arrive on May 26, according to the data, five months ahead of the schedule set by its operator, Teekay LNG Partners.
The Vladimir Voronin, also operated by Teekay, is set to begin sea trials imminently. The data shows it to be on the water in Okpo already.
Yamal needs the ice-breaker tankers to ship LNG out of Arctic waters. Since the plant began operations in December 2017 the tankers have largely conducted ship-to-ship transfers of LNG to conventional carriers, but during summer months they can traverse the Northern Sea Route eastwards to China.
Three more Arc7 tankers are due to be delivered to Novatek under an original order of 15 such vessels.
Vessel Status Operator Chris. de Margerie In operation Sovcomflot Boris Vilkitsky In operation Dynagas Vladimir Rusanov In operation MOL Fedor Litke In operation Dynagas Eduard Toll In operation Teekay Rudolf Samoylovich In operation Teekay Vladimir Vize In operation MOL Georgiy Brusilov In operation Dynagas Boris Davydov (DSME 2428) In operation Dynagas Nikolay Zubkov (DSME 2429) In operation Dynagas Nikolay Yevgenov (DSME 2430) Heading for Yamal Teekay Vladimir Voronin (DSME 2431) Sea trials Teekay DSME 2432 (to be named) Under construction MOL Georgiy Ushakov (DSME 2433) Due Jan 29, 2020 Teekay Yakov Gakkel (DSME 2434) Due Feb 28, 2020 Teekay (Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki Editing by David Goodman)
