NOVATEK announced that the Arc7 ice-class module carrier AUDAX completed its voyage along the Norther Sea Route (NSR) long after the traditional navigation season closure, to deliver a process module weighing almost 12,000 tonnes for Arctic LNG 2 from the Chinese port of Tianjin to Murmansk. The module will be installed on the gravity-based structure (GBS) for Arctic LNG 2 Train 1 at the LNG Construction Center in Belokamenka.

This voyage is unique in terms of a vessel of this size passing the entire Northern Sea Route with a nuclear icebreaker support in February in challenging ice conditions. The Atomflot icebreakers escorted the vessel along the Northern Sea Route. The icebreaker assistance was difficult largely due to navigation specifics during winter 2022. The current NSR navigation season saw severer ice conditions compared to previous years and the summer-fall navigation period ended in the beginning of November 2021, much earlier than in previous years. Due to the size of AUDAX, icebreaker assistance in the route’s most challenging sections in the Chukchi, East Siberian and Kara Seas involved two icebreakers widening the ice channel.

The successful completion of the voyage testifies to the reliability of the Company’s logistics model and the possibility of year-round LNG deliveries via the Northern Sea Route to the Asia Pacific region.