Mitsui OSK Lines eyes involvement in Arctic LNG 2

Japanese shipowner Mitsui OSK Lines (Mol) aims to be involved in Novatek's 19.8mn t/yr Arctic LNG 2 project, the firm's senior adviser Mike Rowley said today.

The shipowner already owns three Arc7 ice-class vessels under long-term charters with the 16.5mn t/yr Yamal LNG project, also operated by Novatek. The Russian producer recently reached a final investment decision (FID) for its 19.8mn t/yr Arctic LNG 2 with its partners in the project.

Mol is looking at opportunities for involvement with the Arctic LNG 2 project, Rowley said, as well as offshore LNG facilities. This is despite a joint venture announced between Novatek and Sovcomflot for the building and management of Arctic LNG 2's Arc7 vessels, to be built by the Rosneft-led Zvezda shipyard in Russia's far east.

But there may be space for other firms such as Mol to be involved in the project as the Russian joint venture may not supply all 17 Arc7 vessels expected to be ordered for the project, a Mol representative told Argus.

All Arc7s required for Arctic LNG 2 will probably have to be built at the Zvezda shipyard, the representative said, because of changes to the Russian Merchant Shipping Code. These require vessels performing cabotage with hydrocarbon cargoes to be Russia-flagged. LNG from the Arctic LNG 2 project is set to be transshipped at purpose-built facilities in Murmansk and on the Kamchatka peninsula.

The expected capacities for the new Arc7 vessels are unlikely to be significantly different from the 15 Arc7 vessels ordered from South Korean shipbuilder DSME for the Yamal project, the representative added, despite the Zvezda shipyard signing an agreement for designs with a different South Korean shipbuilder, Samsung Heavy Industries, which will remain a technical partner in the project.