Novatek, Total, CNPC and Silk Road Fund are partners in the project named Yamal LNG located on the Yamal Peninsula (Russia) to produce the huge Gas reserves of South Tambey fields ; the LNG Plant is located at Sabetta on the west bank of the Ob River , in the North of the Arctic Circle; the extraction of gas and the building of a Liquefaction Plant on permafrost in these regions look less challenging than its transportation under LNG form from the production plant to the markets as the LNG & condensate Carriers have to use the Northern Sea Route , in ice-covered waters for about nine months a year ; a year-round accessible and operable Port has to be built.
To evacuate the 16,5 Mtpa LNG production from the liquefaction Plant , the shipping solution chosen to ensure the safe and reliable maritime transportation and operations year-round is to build a fleet of up to 15 arctic LNG Carriers , with sufficient ice-class notation (Arc7) and ice-breaking capability to operate without the assistance of the russian ice-breakers in the conditions of Barents and Kara Seas ; they will operate independently year-round to North-West Europe where the cargoes will be sold or transferred unto conventional LNG Carriers at selected trans-shipment terminals. But to accommodate these vessels in Sabetta, a new Port has to be designed in such a way that it is accessible and operable year round, meaning that compared to conventional marine facilities , the focus has been put on the ice management of the navigational waterways – dredged river channel and port access channels, the sheltering of the jetties of the port by ice protection barriers , the jetties and quays designed to sustain the ice loads , their winterization and their ice management through brash ice management system , and the sizing of a support fleet in order to ease the operations in the ice.
The lessons learnt during the construction phases of the Plant- dredging of channels, delivery of materials for site preparation and civil works during open water season and in winter , building the marine offloading facilities for delivery of the modules of the Plant , steps to the final design of merchant ice-breaking ships , construction of a future international airfield, current and future logistics solutions for using the Northern Sea Route for the Project purpose, and much more challenges will be described in the paper.
The first train of the Yamal LNG project is planned to start the production of LNG on end of year 2017, and the first ice-breaking LNG Carrier has been delivered after successful ice trails and the first voyages along the Northern Sea Route accomplished, breaking new records of transit and demonstrating safe and sustainable navigation in arctic seas.