Icebreaker Stepan Makarov commences operations for Sakhalin II
RELEASE
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On August 6, 2017, the ice-breaking standby vessel named after famous Russian naval officer Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov arrived on the shores of Sakhalin Island to commence operations.
Built by Arctech Helsinki Shipyard in Finland, the vessel meets the most stringent Russian and international navigation safety requirements and can be used in the adverse conditions of the Sea of Okhotsk.
Stepan Makarov will operate within the Sakhalin II project under a long-term agreement between Sakhalin Energy and Sovcomflot. With a dead weight of 3,880 tons, the vessel can carry 98 people, including 72 passengers from among the personnel of oil and gas platforms.
The vessel is equipped with an Iceman walk-to-work bridge of the Arctic class specially designed by Ampelmann for Sakhalin Energy to ensure easy and safe year-round transfer of personnel to the platform. It eliminates relative movement by instantaneously measuring the vessel's movements and compensating them via special hydraulic cylinders.
The new Russian-flagged standby vessel will ensure the safety of the personnel of Sakhalin Energy’s oil and gas platforms in the Sea of Okhotsk, respond to oil spills, house backup personnel working on the platforms, and provide support to the Company within the limits of its technical capacities.
Background
Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. (Sakhalin Energy) is the operator of Sakhalin II, one of the world’s largest integrated oil and gas projects with massive oil and gas infrastructure for hydrocarbon production, transportation and processing. The company markets oil extracted from the deposits located in the Sea of Okhotsk and LNG produced at Russia’s first LNG plant built by Sakhalin Energy in the southern part of Sakhalin Island.
The project’s infrastructure includes three offshore ice-resistant platforms, the Trans-Sakhalin pipeline system encompassing 300 kilometers of offshore pipelines, an onshore gas pipeline and an onshore oil pipeline (each 800 kilometers long), an onshore processing facility, an oil export terminal, and Russia’s first (and so far the only) LNG plant accounting for over 4 per cent of the global LNG output.
The main buyers of oil and LNG produced by Sakhalin Energy are Asia-Pacific countries. At present, the company exports oil to China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the United States, the Philippines, and Taiwan. The main LNG buyers are Japanese, South Korean and Chinese energy companies.
The company’s shareholders are Gazprom (50 per cent plus one share), Royal Dutch Shell (27.5 per cent minus one share), Mitsui and Co. (12.5 per cent), and Mitsubishi Corporation (10 per cent).