OREANDA-NEWS. September 15, 2010. A ceremony to commission the Kirill Lavrov arctic shuttle tanker with a deadweight of 70 thousand tons took place in Saint-Petersburg at the Admiralty Shipyards (owned by the Western Center of Shipbuilding - a subsidiary sub-holding of the United Shipbuilding Corporation).

The vessel was built for a group of Sovcomflot’s companies under the investment project being financed by Vnesheconombank. In June of 2010, Vnesheconombank and OJSC Sovcomflot and OJSC VEB-Leasing entered into an Agreement providing for using mechanisms for financing this project on a long-term basis. Under the Agreement Vnesheconombank is to extend a credit worth 230 million US dollars for a period of 7 years for purchasing two arctic shuttle tankers “Mikhail Ulyanov” and “Kirill Lavrov” constructed at the Admiralty Shipyards. The tankers are to be transferred to long-term lease, with ownership to be assigned to OJSC Sovcomflot.

The total amount of investments under the project is 247 million US dollars.

The Kirill Lavrov Tanker with a deadweight of 70 000 tons is designed to transport oil and gas condensate from the Prirazlomnoye oil field (the Barents Sea), the project’s operator is Gazprom Neft Shelf. The tankers of the series were built subject to the Rules of Dual Registry of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and Lloyd’s Register. Under the classification of the Russian Marine Shipping Register the tankers were assigned ice class ARC6, which allows them to navigate on their own in the ice up to 1.2 meters thick.

Upon constructing the Arctic shuttle tanker, unique design solutions were used making it possible to operate this vessel in a safe mode in difficult climatic conditions of the Arctic seas. Arctic shuttle tankers apply the principle of double action using an ice-breaking stern in heavy ice and a bow for open water. The tanker is equipped with two Azipod propulsion units (a 360-degree rotary azimuth electric steering system with a total capacity of 17 megawatt, a satellite dynamic positioning system, a helicopter pad, a bow loading system, a unique heat-insulation and heating system for all hull systems.