2018 — Key events
and achievements
February
- Sovcomflot Group and Shell entered into longterm charter contracts for two new-generation Aframax tankers using LNG as the primary fuel.
- A ceremony of raising the flag of the Russian Federation and naming of a new multifunctional icebreaking platform supply vessel, Yevgeny Primakov, took place in Saint Petersburg.
- Sovcomflot and Sberbank signed a project financing agreement for a total amount of US$106 million and a term of up to 14 years. The funds were used to build an Arctic shuttle tanker for servicing Gazprom Neft’s Novy Port project.
March
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to confer state awards on a group of Sovcomflot employees for major contribution to the implementation of the project for creating the world’s first icebreaking LNG carrier, Christophe de Margerie.
Sovcomflot won the annual contest “Industry Leader”, organised by the Federal Marine and River Transport Agency, in category “Shipping company engaged in maritime liquid bulk cargo transportation”.
April
- Sovcomflot Group entered into a credit facility agreement for a total amount of US$252 million and a term of up to 7 years with a consortium of six international banks (ABN AMRO Bank, BNP Paribas, Citibank, ING Bank, KfW IPEX-Bank and Societe Generale). The raised funds were used to finance the construction of a series of six LNGfuelled Aframax crude oil tankers.
- Marine Money named the credit facility agreement between Sovcomflot and VTB as the Deal of the Year in Project Financing — West category. The borrowed capital was used to finance the construction of the Arctic LNG carrier Christophe de Margerie.
May
- The 17th annual conference of business partners of PAO Sovcomflot, timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Sovcomflot as a joint-stock company, was held in Saint Petersburg.
- The Russian round of the Fort Ross Dialogue, an annual Russo-American conference, took place in Veliky Novgorod with the support of Sovcomflot and its partners, Transneft and Chevron.
June
- Sovcomflot Group and NOVATEK signed a strategic partnership agreement to provide transport support for Yamal LNG, Arctic LNG 2 and other Arctic projects developed by NOVATEK.
July
- Gagarin Prospect, the first vessel in a series of six Aframax oil tankers of a new generation specially designed to run on LNG was delivered to SCF Group.
August
- The LNG carrier Pskov delivered to consumers the first batch of liquefied gas produced by the second production line of the Yamal LNG plant.
- Sovcomflot’s shuttle tanker Governor Farkhutdinov delivered the milestone 600th cargo of crude oil from Sakhalin-2 to the port of Quanzhou, China.
September
- An order for the construction of a series of two LNG-fuelled Aframax crude oil tankers was placed at the Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex. The ships will be subsequently chartered to Rosneft under
20-year time charter contracts. - SCF Far East Tall Ships Regatta 2018 was successfully completed. Vladimir Putin presented Sergey Vorobiev, captain of the sailing ship Nadezhda, with the prize for the first place won by the ship in the race of Class A tall ships from Yeosu (South Korea) to Vladivostok.
- The Artctic LNG carrier Christophe de Margerie delivered to consumers the milestone
5-millionth tonne of liquefied natural gas from the Yamal LNG plant. - The Vessel Electric Propulsion Training Centre was opened at the Admiral Nevelskoy Maritime State University with the support of Sovcomflot and ABB to prepare seafarers for work on vessels equipped with Azipod propulsion units. The opening ceremony was attended by Russian Minister of Transport Yevgeny Dietrich.
October
Sovcomflot became the winner of the 2018 International Competition for Scientific, Technical and Innovative Projects aimed at the development and exploration of the Arctic and the continental shelf, held with the support of the Russian Government and the Russian Ministry of Energy. A team of company specialists was honoured with the first prize “for the development of technological solutions enabling the creation of an autonomous system for reliable and safe navigation in the most challenging zones of the Gulf of Ob”.
The 7th Russian-American forum, Fort Ross Dialogue, was successfully held in San Francisco with the support of Sovcomflot, Transneft and Chevron.
Gagarin Prospect, an LNG-fuelled Aframax tanker, successfully completed the first LNG bunkering operation at the Port of Rotterdam and made her first commercial voyage across the Baltic and North Seas operating on LNG.
Lomonosov Prospect, a large-capacity LNG-fuelled tanker, successfully completed a commercial voyage along the Northern Sea Route to deliver hydrocarbons from South Korea to Northern Europe.
November
- Sovcomflot entered into a US$149 million credit facility agreement for a term of up to 10 years with a consortium of three European banks (ING Bank, KfW IPEX-Bank and Credit Agricole CIB).
- The LNG carrier Pskov completed the first LNG ship-to-ship transfer operation for the Yamal LNG project. This operation marked the start of a new stage in the development of the transport logistics system for delivery of Yamal gas to consumers.
December
- The Arctic LNG carrier Christophe de Margerie loaded the first cargo of LNG produced on the third production line of the Yamal LNG project. The cargo operations at the port of Sabetta were inaugurated by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
- Sovcomflot won the Environment Award — Individual Company at the 2018 Lloyd’s List Global Awards.
- Sovcomflot entered into a US$264 million revolving credit facility agreement for a term of up to six years with a consortium of five international banks (Citibank, DVB Bank, ING Bank, Sociеtе Gеnеrale and UniCredit).
- An order for the construction of three LNG-fuelled MR product tankers was placed at the Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex.