24/01/2010 The first 10 million tonnes of crude oil delivered from Varandey

On 24 January 2010 the shipment of the first 10 million tonnes of crude oil, transported by the Arctic shuttle tankers of the Vasiliy Dinkov type from the Fixed Offshore Ice-resistant Offloading Terminal (FOIROT) at Varandey, situated 22 km offshore in the Barents Sea, was completed.

Today three ships are successfully serving this unique project of seaborne transportation of oil from the Varandey FOIRT. These vessels are: Vasily Dinkov, accepted for operation in December 2007 and tankers Kapitan Gotsky and Timofey Guzhenko, which joined the fleet in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Due to the unique technical solutions incorporated within the ships of the series, they can be operated effectively in the harsh climate conditions of the Arctic seas all year-round. The ships have an ice-breaking capacity when moving ahead or astern, which reduces their maneuvering time and enhances the safety of each vessel.

Arctic shuttle tankers of the Vasily Dinkov type have already proven that they are capable of operating in extremely low temperatures. Despite rather harsh ice conditions encountered, the Arctic tankers are able to operate independently, without the need for any ice-breaker escort.
SCF (Sovcomflot) Group – is one of Russia’s largest infrastructural enterprises. One hundred per cent of its shares are owned by the State. The SCF Group’s fleet comprises 147 vessels with a total deadweight (dwt) of 10.4 million tonnes. The current shipbuilding portfolio includes 15 vessels of 1.3 million tonnes dwt.
• The average age of vessels in the tanker fleet is about six years (the world average age is 12 years).
• SCF Group is a world leader by deadweight in the product carrier segment; it is the second largest in the Aframax tanker segment and the fourth largest in the Suezmax tanker sector;
• The company owns the largest ice-class fleet, being No.1 in the segment of the Arctic shuttle tankers and ice-classed LNG tankers;
• The Group’s services include not only transporting hydrocarbons for its customers, but also trans-shipping crude oil via FSO facilities, terminal management and developing effective logistics for transporting energy, and providing supply vessels services to drilling rigs and offshore platforms.

Sovcomflot Press-Centre