Japan's MOL Charters Three LNG Carriers

Japanese shipowner Mitsui OSK. Lines (MOL) has chartered out three ice-breaking LNG carriers (LNGCs) to the Novatek-led Arctic LNG-2 project, it said on November 2.

The vessels will be built at South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard. They are due to be delivered in 2023, the same year as the 19.8mn metric ton/yr Arctic LNG-2 terminal on Russia's Gydan peninsula is scheduled to start up.

The LNGCs will primarily ship LNG from Arctic LNG-2 to planned transshipment terminals at Kamchatka and Murmansk, where the gas will be stored and loaded on to conventional tankers for transport to markets.

MOL's current LNGCs can only sail eastbound along Russia's  Northern Sea Route during summer and autumn when the ice is thin. When it is too thick, they need ice-breakers to precede them. But the new vessels will be narrower, have a hull form optimised for ice-breaking and have better propulsion, enabling them to travel eastbound all year round, the company said.