One of the contracts envisages charter of two ships from the consortium of Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha and Sovkomflot. The third ship will be chartered from another Russian-Japanese consortium, which comprises Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. and the Primorye Ocean Company.
In compliance with the contracts, all three ships will have ice strengthening and will be designed to be exploited in low temperatures. This will allow carrying out year-round shipments from Sakhalin Energy's LNG plant in the south of Sakhalin.
The company's CEO, Ian Craig, who signed the contracts, said, "We are very glad to sign contracts on charter of three new ships to ship LNG with two Russian-Japanese consortiums, whose participants uniquely combine a 20-year experience of accident-free LNG shipment and skills of safe navigation in hard ice conditions of Russian seas."
Sakhalin Energy's commercial director Andy Calitz believes that "signing of the documents is yet another example of large-scale involvement of Russian enterprises in fulfilling the Sakhalin 2 project. Russian companies for the first time will participate in LNG shipment. It was an international tender with a high level of competition. It became, in our opinion, a large success for Russian shipping companies." 12 large international shipping companies had taken part in the tender as regular LNG shipments from Sakhalin to Japan start at the end of 2007.
Ivan Malakhov, Sakhalin governor, who is on a visit in London, said that "the contracts for construction and charter of LNG tankers has become yet another significant step forward both for Sakhalin and Russia on the whole. Marketing and export of Sakhalin LNG today enters a new quality level. Not only do we succeed in carrying out an LNG project in Russia, but also we now have resources to deliver gas to consumers. Due to the contracts Russia has become one of the countries who have fleet for LNG shipments, and it is yet another landmark in our country's glorious naval history."
