OREANDA-NEWS. On 17 February 2009 was announced, that the Kapitan Khlebnikov departed from Vladivostok heading to the port of Prigorodnoye in the iceland of Sakhalin to make ice-lead for super oil-tank ships and LNG-carriers.

The ice-breaker is under time-charter with Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. – a long-term and esteemed partner of FESCO under the Sakhalin-II project. FESCO has been providing support of spring-autumn offshore oil production from the Molikpaq with the ice-breakers — the Admiral Makarov, the Krasin and the Magadan — for over 10 years.

The “Kapitan Khlebnikov” has been chartered by SEIC for three ice seasons and the ice-breaker will operate every year till 2011 from February till March. In 2009 the ice-breaker is scheduled to provide ice-lead to four tankers and some LNG-carriers. Two PRISCO oil-carriers are deployed on the line – the “Ostrov Sakhalin” and the “Governor Farkhutdinov” of 108000 dwt, as well as LNG-carriers of the “GRAND MEREYA” type with the tank capacity of 145 963,8 m3.

The first oil shipment of 100 000 tons received from the new export terminal in the port of Prigorodnoye was loaded on the oil-carrier the “Governor Farkhutdinov” . The oil was produced from the Molikpaq in the north of Sakhalin, then the oil was transferred to the export terminal in Prigorodnoye in the south of Sakhalin in the Aniva Bay.

Both oil-carriers are equipped with bow loading facilities to provide oil loading at offshore mooring in Prigorodnoye. The bow loading facilities, ice-class 1 С and double hull enable PRISCO oil-carriers to ship raw hydrocarbons from the Sakhalin all year round.