OREANDA-NEWS. November 12, 2012. A keel laying ceremony took place at the STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd yard to mark the start of work on the LNG carrier  Velikiy Novgorod. This vessel is being built for Sovcomflot to carry out operations under a long-term agreement with Gazprom Global LNG (part of Gazprom).

Veliky Novogorod is the first of two vessels being built for Sovcomflot at the STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd yard. This first gas carrier is due to be finished in December, 2013. At the end of June this year, a steel cutting ceremony took place to mark the start of construction work on the second gas carrier in the same series, Pskov. This second vessel is due to be completed in 2014.

The state-of-the-art Ice2 (1C) Atlanticmax class gas carriers have a cargo capacity of approximately 170,000 mі and are equipped with the latest hardware for work in extremely low temperatures. These vessels are designed for the year-round transportation of gas from all existing LNG terminals, including Sakhalin-II – Russia’s first LNG project.

At present, the SCF fleet has 8 LPG and LNG carriers which are in operation on both Russian and international projects (Sakhalin-II, Tangguh etc.). An additional six gas carriers are being built as part of a long-term time charter agreement with the world’s largest oil & gas companies.