OREANDA-NEWS. October 3, 2011. SCF Group announced a remarkable date: five years of safe and stable oil shipments from the De-Kastri (Sakhalin-1 project) oil loading terminal.

After tanker operations began in the autumn of 2006 until now, more than 460 accident-free oil shipments and a total volume of 43 million tonnes (324 million barrels) of oil were loaded and delivered to world markets.
Sovcomflot Executive Vice-President Sergey Popravko noted: “Sakhalin-1 is one of the most complicated oil and gas offshore projects in the world. The harsh sub-Arctic climate requires the use of unique technology and great experience in safe seaborne transportation. Regular shipments by sea from the De-Kastri terminal, under the most difficult ice conditions in the Tatar Strait, are performed successfully because of the effective partnership of SCF and Exxon Neftegas Limited – the operator of the Sakhalin-1 project. Weather forecasts and recommendations on the safest and best route are prepared by the Arctic and Antarctic Scientific and Research Institute, in order to ensure the voyages are successful. Tankers are escorted by icebreakers from the Far Eastern Shipping Company.”

The De-Kastri terminal is situated in the Ulchsk region of the Khabarovsk area, not far from the settlement of De-Kastri. Oil from the Sakhalin-1 field is delivered by pipe-line to the terminal and is then loaded to the specially constructed Aframax tankers managed by Sovcomflot. These tankers are double-hulled and have ice class 1C. The ships were designed by ExxonMobil jointly with the Norwegian classification society Det Norske Veritas, and the Korean shipbuilding corporation Hyundai Heavy Industries, with participation from Russian and SCF specialists.

In the process of the project’s drafting, for the first time in the history of shipping, the concept of the so-called vessels’ winterization was addressed. This was something later used as a basis for the New Rules of classification societies for surveying ships operating in low temperatures – down to -30°C. Until 2003 most ships, according to the rules of the various classification societies, were built only to operate in temperatures of down to -20°C, and there was no unified system for the classification of winterisation.

Consolidation of the seaborne component of the project managed by SCF Group, was completed in the summer of 2011. At the moment there are four Aframax oil shuttle tankers serving the project: Yuri Senkevich, Captain Kostichev, Victor Konetsky and Viktor Titov. Besides this SCF Sakhalin, an ice-breaking supply vessel, is being used for the offshore production platform. Currently, two further advanced design ice-class supply vessels for Sakhalin-1 are under construction. The ships were ordered by SCF Group to serve the new Sakhalin-1 field – Arkutun-Dagi. A contract was signed for the transportation and installation of the lower bases of the production platform, serving the Arkutun-Dagi field, in the summer of 2012. For SCF it will be the first major project of such a scale in the offshore services market segment.