OREANDA-NEWS. November 22, 2011. An official steel cutting ceremony, marking the start of construction of the first of two VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) tankers ordered by SCF Group, took place in China on 14 November 2011.
The ceremony was held at Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co. and was attended by Sergey Popravko, Sovcomflot Senior Vice-President; Igor Tonkovidov, President of Novoship; representatives from the yard and Chinese partners.

SCF is one of the world leaders in the product tanker segment, as well the Aframax and Suezmax oil tankers segments. Now the company is entering the segment of the largest ships, namely the VLCC class (more than 300,000 dwt tonnes), as stipulated by SCF’s current development strategy.

Both the VLCC tankers under construction will be operated under time-charter contracts, for the transportation of crude oil, signed last December with the Chinese company PetroChina International (a subsidiary of the Chinese national oil and gas corporation – CNPC). The agreements stipulate the transportation of oil by SCF vessels from the countries of the Middle East, Western Africa, and Venezuela to China.
The first vessel is expected to be accepted for operation in the fourth quarter of 2012. Technical management of the tankers, including supervision of their construction, will be performed by Novoship specialists (part of the SCF Group). At present the construction of vessels of this class is not possible in Russia.

Contracts for the construction of these VLCC class tankers is another step in the implementation of a long-term strategic partnership Agreement signed by SCF Group and CNPC, in St. Petersburg on 22 November 2010. The Agreement, in particular, provides for a significant increase in the volumes of hydrocarbons transported by sea for CNPC by SCF Group vessels.

PetroChina – is one of the largest business-partners of SCF Group. Cooperation between the two companies is based on long-term contracts and today this includes crude oil transportation by Suezmax tankers.
Speaking at the official ceremony, Sovcomflot’s Senior Vice-President Sergey Popravko said: “The VLCC class, which is new for SCF Group (Sovcomflot), is the optimal one for working in the Asian direction. Both tankers will be employed under long-term time-charter agreements, which is completely in line with the company’s strategy of development in the segment of conventional hydrocarbons transportation. Today’s event is the result of mutually beneficial cooperation between SCF Group (one of the world’s leading tanker companies) and CNPC (one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies).
VLCC 1 Code: 302
IMO Number: VLCC 1
Class: TANKER FLEET
Group: OIL TANKERS
Type: VLCC
Vessel Series:


Shipyard: Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry
Built Date: December 2012
Delivery Date: 31 December 2012
Flag: LIBERIAN
Tech. class: Det Norske Veritas
Notation: +1A1, "Tanker for Oil ESP", CSR, E0, VCS-2, BIS, TMON, CLEAN, SPM, COAT-PSPC(B)
Hull number: BH518G1-7

L.O.A. (m): 332,00
Breadth (m): 60,00
Depth (m): 30,05
Deadweight (t): 320000,00
GRT (t): 0,00
NRT (t): 0,00
Draught (Loading) (m): 22,60
Speed (knots): 16,00

Technical Management: Novoship
Commercial Management: Novoship