NOVATEK Sends Tanker ‘Perseverance’ via Northern Sea Route

OAO NOVATEK has announced today that the Tanker “Perseverance”, carrying 60 thousand tons of the Company’s stable gas condensate, has passed through the Bering Strait and into the Pacific Ocean.

The Perseverance has become the ninth high-tonnage tanker in the 2011 navigational period to transport NOVATEK’s stable gas condensate via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) from the Russian port of Murmansk to countries of the Asian-Pacific region.

In 2011, NOVATEK, with icebreaking support from the Russian Federation’s Atomflot, opened the NSR’s navigational period for high-tonnage tankers early, sending the first tanker on 29 June, and closed the navigational period in November, establishing a new record for the longest use of the NSR during a single year. During the five month navigational period, NOVATEK transported approximately 600 thousand tons of stable gas condensate to consumers in South Korea, China and Thailand.

During 2011, a new route north of the New Siberian Islands was established, where the water is deep enough to accommodate tankers with draughts of over 12 meters, and for the first time in history, the route was navigated by the tanker “Vladimir Tikhonov”, a Suezmax class vessel with deadweight of over 160 thousand tons.

The regular use of the NSR has established this route as an economically viable alternative to the existing routes through the Suez Canal and the Strait of Malacca, and a new link between Russia and Europe to countries of the Asian-Pacific region.

For the second year in a row NOVATEK has been transporting hydrocarbons via the Arctic Ocean to China and other markets of the Asian-Pacific region. These shipments provide a unique opportunity to test new technologies and methods for transporting hydrocarbons under Arctic conditions from prospective fields in the Yamal peninsula. The Northern Sea Route will be an integral part of the development of NOVATEK’s Yamal LNG project providing transportation routes for both LNG and stable gas condensate.