LNG carrier traverses Northern Sea Route

Alan Bailey

Petroleum News

An icebreaking LNG carrier has successfully traversed the Northern Sea Route around the Arctic coast of Russia without icebreaker support, transporting LNG from the Yamal LNG plant on the Kara Sea to China, according to a report in the American Journal of Transportation. The vessel, the Vladimir Rusanov, arrived in the Bering Sea on July 6, heading for the Chinese port of Juiangsu Rudong, having embarked from the Kara Sea on June 25, the report said. The vessel is jointly owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and China COSCO Shipping Corp. Ltd. and is the first of three similar vessels that the companies have commissioned.

In August 2017, the Christophe de Margerie became the first LNG tanker to traverse the Northern Sea Route, unaided by an icebreaker, delivering LNG from a gas terminal on the Barents Sea coast to South Korea.

Prior to its current voyage to China, the Vladimir Rusanov had been engaged in carrying LNG from Yamal west to European destinations. But the summer opening of the Northern Sea Route provided an opportunity for the first delivery of Yamal LNG to East Asia via the Bering Strait, the American Journal of Transportation reported.

- ALAN BAILEY