From Sabetta to Tangshan. “Christophe de Margerie” delivered gas to China in record time

The gas carrier “Christophe de Margerie”, going to the Chinese port of Tangshan, overcame the Northern Sea Route in record time. “The vessel has passed 2360 nautical miles from Sabetta to Cape Dezhnev (Chukotka Peninsula) for 7 days 17 hours. All along the route the gas carrier was moving without icebreaker support. The average speed of the vessel on the Northern Sea Route made 12.8 knots”, as it was noted in Sovcomflot. “Christophe de Margerie” was moored in the Port of Tangshan on the 31st of July. The full voyage of the vessel to the Chinese port took 18.5 days, as the oil and gas information agency reports. Fast and safe passing of the route from Sabetta in the eastern direction once again confirmed economic efficiency of the Northern Sea Route as a transport corridor. It allows speaking about the beginning of regular deliveries of liquefied natural gas from arctic extractive fields of Russia on the Northern Sea Route to the countries of the Asia-Pacific Region by sea. “Christophe de Margerie” is the world’s first icebreaking tanker - LNG carrier. It is designed for year-round transportation of LNG in difficult ice conditions of the Kara Sea and the Gulf of Ob within the project “Yamal LNG”. The tanker’s capacity makes 172 thousand 600 cubic meters of liquefied gas. This is the head vessel of the series of 15 similar tankers. The vessel is characterized with high icebreaking capability and exceptional maneuverability. “Christophe de Margerie” is able to break ice with the thickness up to 2.1 meters. The capacity of its propulsion unit makes 45 megawatt, what is comparable to the capacity of a modern nuclear-powered icebreaker. The tanker is capable to go on the Northern Sea Route to the west from Sabetta during the whole year round and to the east - from July to December.