OREANDA-NEWS. At the STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd yard a keel laying ceremony took place for LNG carrier Pskov, ordered by Sovcomflot for operations under a long-term agreement with Gazprom Global LNG.

 Pskov is the second vessel being built for Sovcomflot at the STX shipyard and is due to be completed in 2014. In January this year the first gas carrier in this series (Velikiy Novgorod) was launched.

 These state-of-the-art Atlanticmax Ice2 (1C) class gas carriers have a cargo capacity of around 170,000mі and are equipped with hardware for working in low temperature conditions. Their unique design allows these vessels to transport gas all year round from practically any existing LNG terminals in the world, including Russia’s first LNG project – Sakhalin-II.

 At present, the SCF fleet has 8 LNG and LPG carriers which are engaged in both Russian and international projects (Sakhalin-II, Tangguh). A further six gas carriers are under construction as part of long-term time charter agreements with the world’s largest oil & gas companies.