TABLE-Arc7 class Arctic vessels for Yamal LNG facility
LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - A new ice-breaking liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker of the Arc7 class has begun sea trials by South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) around the island of Geoje, Refinitiv Eikon data shows.
The Nikolay Zubkov, formerly known as Hull DSME 2429, exited DSME's port on Geoje on Tuesday and has zig-zagged across the Korea Strait, the data showed.
Ship trials for previous Arc7 carriers now in operation have lasted several months.
The Arc7 tankers, for Novatek's Yamal LNG facility in northern Russia, are able to cross the Northern Sea Route eastwards to Asia during the summer and westwards to Europe throughout the year without the help of ice-breaker ships.
Yamal has been starting up faster than planned with output only held back by the delivery of the tankers.
Once at full capacity of 17.5 million tonnes a year, Yamal will be one of the biggest LNG export plants in the world.
The table below shows the 15 ARC7 tankers on order and their status.
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 Starting operations Dynagas Boris Davydov (DSME 2428) Sea trials Dynagas Nikolay Zubkov (DSME 2429) Sea trials Dynagas Nikolay Yevgenov (DSME 2430) Due Oct 29, 2019 Teekay Vladimir Voronin (DSME 2431) Due Nov 29, 2019 Teekay DSME 2432 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 Jason Neely)
