A second giant LNG floating storage unit has arrived on-site at the eastern end of the Northern Sea Route in the Russian Arctic.
The 361,600-cbm newbuilding Koryak FSU arrived in Bechevinskaya Bay on the eastern side of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula last week.
The massive LNG storage unit left Hanwha Ocean’s Okpo Shipyard in South Korea on 1 July.
The unit is a twin to the Saam FSU which arrived at the western side of the NSR in Ura Bay off Murmansk in June after a four-month-long tow via the Cape of Good Hope.
TradeWinds reported this month that the shipbuilder raised the price of the two FSUs by almost 10% on their deliveries pricing them at around $404m each.
Initially ordered by Russian state-owned State Transport Leasing Co (GTLK) the FSUs are now under the control of domestic gas giant Novatek.
Under plans outlined by the company they will be used to take on LNG cargoes shipped into them by Russia’s specialised Arc7 LNG carrier fleet with lesser ice-classed vessels then able to load at the FSUs and take on the volumes for global trading.
This frees up the ice-breaking Arc7 fleet to work in the harsher, sometimes ice-bound waters.
Currently, Russia’s only Arctic-based plant is Novatek’s 16.5-million tonnes per annum Yamal LNG.
But in the last few days Novatek’s second liquefaction development, the 19.8-mtpa Arctic LNG 2 facility on the neighbouring Gydan Peninsula took a major step forward with the sailaway of the first gravity-based structure that will house one of three planned LNG production trains.
International sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 led to foreign contractors having to pull out from working on the GBS units, so its completion is a key milestone for the project.
Russian president Vladimir Putin and Novatek chairman of the management board Leonid Mikhelson attended the event.
Putin said in TV broadcasts that the start-up of Arctic LNG 2 will lead to greater use of the NSR. But he added that Russia needs more ice-breakers of the highest class.
The first GBS, with its topside modules installed, is being towed to Arctic LNG 2’s Utrenniy Terminal while work continues on the second unit.
The modules have been delivered via the NSR from China on heavylift vessels. But Russia has also started constructing these.
Novatek plans to start up Arctic LNG 2 in early 2024, a year later than planned.
