Within the framework of cooperation in the field of energy between Japan and Russia, the expansion of the Sakhalin 2 project (Sakhalin-2) was discussed. However, the South Kirinskoye gas field is currently subject to US sanctions due to its oil reserves. Therefore, Gazprom may have difficulty finding potential investors in the West to implement the project.
Novatek proposed a plan to expand capacity and implement the Arctic LNG-2 (Arctic LNG-2) project, which could produce an additional 19.8 million tons of LNG per year. The launch of the first line of the Arctic LNG-2 project is scheduled for 2023 with full capacity in 2026.
Trans-shipment terminal for 8 million tones of LNG per year - Zeebrugge, Belgium terminal for the supply of 8 million tons of LNG per year; Suez Canal - Suez Canal; Arctic LNG2: Russia’s LNG producer Novatek plans to build second Arctic LNG plant on Gydan Peninsula Sakhalin-2: Russia's sole LNG plant. Capacity: 10 m tones of LNG per year - "Sakhalin-2": the only Russian plant for the production of LNG. Capacity: 10 million tons of LNG per year; Arctic circle - polar circle; North Pole - North Pole; Atlantic Ocean - Atlantic Ocean; U.S. - USA; CANADA - Canada; RUSSIA - Russia; Icebreaking LNG carriers - ice-class LNG carriers; Conventional LNG carriers - traditional LNG carriers; China: Yamal expected to provide more than 80% of China LNG demand - China: Yamal expected to provide more than 80% of China's LNG demand; Yamal LNG: Owned by Novatek (50.1%), China's CNCP and France Total (20% each), and China's Silk Road Fund (9.9%) - Yamal LNG: owned by Novatek (50.1 %), the Chinese company CNCP and the French company Total (20% each), and the Chinese Silk Road Fund (9.9%).
At present, interest in the project is shown by the French company Total SA, the Chinese CNPC company, the Japanese corporation Marubeni Corporation and the company from Saudi Arabia Saudi Aramco. However, according to the Institute of Energy Economics LNG market experts, by mid-2020, supply and demand will reach a balance of approximately 400 million tons. Between 2020 and 2025, Oceania and North America plan to start operating their LNG terminals. By 2030, there will be no shortage of LNG supplies, since the facilities planned for construction in accordance with the global LNG supply plan will provide 370 million tons. In this situation, it will be difficult to find buyers and attract additional investments.
Year-round - all year round; Summer - in the summer; Baltic LNG 10 mtpa Gazprom - Baltic LNG 10 million tons per year Gazprom; Pechora LNG 10 mtpa Rosneft/Alltek - Pechora LNG 10 mtpa Rosneft/Alltek; Yamal LNG 16.5 mtpa Novatec Total CNCP - Yamal LNG 16.5 million tons per year Novatek, Total, CNCP; 30 bcma Altai - 30 billion tons per year Altai; 38 bcma Power of Siberia - 38 billion tons per year "Power of Siberia"; Far Eastern LNG 5-10 mtpa Rosneft/ExxonMobil - Far East LNG 5-10 million tons per year Rosneft / ExxonMobil; Sakhalin-2 10-15 mtpa SEIC - Sakhalin-2 10-15 Mtpa SEIC Center; Vladivostok LNG 10-15 mtpa Gazprom - Vladivostok LNG 10-15 million tons per year Gazprom.
Assessment of the prospects of the Yamal-LNG complex
The Yamal LNG complex, co-owned by Russian company Novatek, France's Total SA, China's CNPC and the Silk Road Fund are often referred to as a "window to the Asia-Pacific region. LNG from this complex is expected to be supplied to the Asia-Pacific and European markets all year round. In reality, the frequency of LNG supplies from this complex will apparently be affected by restrictions on the weather conditions of the Arctic. From December to April, the Northern Sea Route, connecting the Yamal Peninsula and the Asia-Pacific basin, is closed to navigation. In this case, deliveries can only go to Western European markets. In winter, LNG supplies for Asian countries are less profitable and time-consuming. For example, sailing with an LNG cargo to Japan would take 72 days. This is about 4 times longer than the delivery time for LNG from Australia (16 days). Only from May to November, when energy demand usually declines somewhat, will ships be able to deliver LNG to both European and Asia-Pacific markets.
The Sakhalin-2 complex, the first LNG project in Russia, which is able to export LNG to the Asia-Pacific region all year round. In 2016, the complex met 6% of LNG demand in Asia. In particular, LNG supplies to Japan and South Korea covered 8.6% and 8% of national demand, respectively.
All year round to Europe and Latin America - year-round deliveries to Europe and Latin America; During summer to Asia - during the summer period to Asia; During winter to Asia - during the winter period; Average number of days for round trip - the average number of days spent on a round trip; Yamal LNG - "Yamal LNG".
High level of dependence on China
By 2035 Russian government expects to increase its share in the Asia-Pacific natural gas trade to 33%. This mainly refers to the supply of gas to the PRC. China's involvement in Russian gas projects is already quite significant. Chinese investors have already secured $12 billion of the total $27 billion needed to operate the Yamal LNG complex. When the complex is brought to full capacity in 2019, it is planned to supply 4 million tons of LNG to China annually. Earlier in May 2014, Russia struck a deal with China for a 30-year period. According to the experts of the Global Risk Insights portal, if everything develops according to plan, then by 2030 the capacity of the Siberian and Altai gas pipelines will total 68 billion cubic meters. m of gas annually (billion cubic meters per annum-bcma), compared with 80 billion cubic meters. m delivered to Europe.
LNG carriers and problems of their construction
A modern LNG carrier is a complex technical object. Mastering the technology of building ships of this class takes time and appropriate training. The construction of such ice-class LNG carriers designed to operate in arctic conditions is an even more difficult task.
Fig.4. Appearance ice-class gas carrier "Vladimir Rusanov" for LNG supplies from the Yamal LNG complex.
Principles and technology for the construction of LNG carriers
The most important component of the gas-containing system in the construction of an LNG carrier is the storage tanks for liquefied gas. Currently, there are several types of such tanks. These are MOSS spherical tanks and membrane tanks. The latter are the most modern and promising. Tank designs are developed by only 2-3 leading companies in this field, are patented, and LNG tanks around the world are built under licenses from these companies.
Now ice-class LNG carriers under construction for the Yamal LNG complex use GTT NO 96GW membrane tanks.
Main material: 64FeNi alloy (Invar 36).
Filler material: NiMo28Fe4Cr (~ S Ni1069 acc. to DIN EN ISO 18274).
Peculiarities:
Welding process: plasma arc welding (Plasma Arc Welding - PAW) and gas tungsten arc welding (Gas Tungsten Arc Welding - GTAW).
Complicated welding process (requires highly qualified personnel).
It is necessary to constantly monitor the level of heating and heat generation during welding.
It is difficult to control possible leaks.
Primary invar membrane - primary membrane made of Invar alloy; Secondary invar membrane - secondary membrane from Invar alloy; Inner tube - inner tube; Inner hull - the inner hull of the vessel; Resin ropes - epoxy mastic gaskets; Insulation box - insulation box; Coupler base - coupler.
The design of the NO 96 GW LNG tanks is an improvement on the NO 96 design. In this design, fiberglass replaces perlite as the insulating material of the primary and secondary conduits. The design reduces the evaporation rate of LNG to 0.125% - 0.13% per day.
However, GTT has already developed the design of the next generation NO 96 LO3. This design uses three layers of insulation, with the first two layers insulated with fiberglass and the third layer of insulation ducting using reinforced polyurethane foam (RPUF).
Technologies required for the manufacture of LNG tanks
For the production of LNG tanks, welding equipment and high-quality welding technology are of particular importance. Welding is carried out automatically in an inert gas environment to obtain high-quality welds that exclude the possibility of leaks.
Fully automated consumable electrode welding in an inert gas environment (Fully-Automatic single wire MIG welding).
Rice. 8. High-quality weld, obtained by automated consumable electrode welding in an inert gas environment.
Filler wire: AA 5183 (AlMg 4.5Mn) 1.6 mm
Main material: AA 5356 (AlMg5)
Joint dimensions: 500 x 250 x 15 mm
(preheating not allowed)
Inert gas: 100% Ar.
Welding speed: 22.5cm/min
Welding position: vertical seam
one layer weld> vibrating arc
Welding with two heads in series
Rice. 9. Welding equipment for welding with two consecutive welding heads (Tandem Welding System).
Who will build LNG carriers for Russia?
South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering delivered two ice-class LNG carriers to deliver LNG from the Yamal LNG production complex in November 2017. The new LNG carriers Boris Vilkitsky and Fedor Litke were ordered as part of a series of 15 LNG carriers LNG for this Russian project. Vessels with a length of almost 300 m and a width of 50 m have a deadweight of 85 thousand tons.
LNG carriers can operate all year round at temperatures down to -50 °С, they have an Arc 7 ice class, which allows them to navigate in ice up to 2.1 m thick when moving astern without the help of icebreakers.
Vessels with a cargo capacity of 172.6 thousand cubic meters m are equipped with three azimuth rudder propellers with a total capacity of 45 MW.
Zvezda shipbuilding complex and LNG carriers
From the data above, it can be seen that technological processes the manufacture of LNG tanks is a high-tech production and requires special experience and High Quality works. In addition, specialized equipment is needed for the manufacture of tanks. The same, however, applies to a lesser extent to the manufacture of the hull, systems and equipment of LNG carriers.
LNG carrier Christophe de Margerie (ship owner of PAO Sovcomflot) successfully completed its first commercial voyage on August 17, 2017, delivering a consignment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) from Norway to South Korea. This was reported by the press service of Sovcomflot a.
During the voyage, the ship set a new record for overcoming the NSR - 6.5 days. At the same time, Christophe de Margerie became the first merchant ship in the world that was able to navigate the NSR without icebreaking assistance throughout this route.
During the passage along the NSR, the vessel covered 2,193 miles (3,530 km) from Cape Zhelaniya on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago to Cape Dezhnev in Chukotka, the extreme eastern mainland point of Russia. The exact transition time was 6 days 12 hours 15 minutes.
During the voyage, the vessel again confirmed its exceptional suitability for operation in high latitudes. The average speed during the passage exceeded 14 knots - despite the fact that in some sections the gas carrier was forced to go through ice fields up to 1.2 m thick. using the Northern Sea Route was 22 days, which is almost 30% less than it would be required when crossing the traditional southern route through the Suez Canal. The results of the voyage made it possible once again to confirm the economic efficiency of using the Northern Sea Route for the transit of large-capacity vessels.
"Christophe de Margerie" is the first and so far the only icebreaking gas carrier in the world. The unique vessel was built by order of the Sovcomflot group of companies for year-round transportation of LNG as part of the Yamal LNG project. The vessel was put into operation on March 27, 2017 after the successful completion of ice trials that took place in the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea.
The gas carrier is able to independently overcome ice up to 2.1 m thick. The vessel has an Arc7 ice class, the highest among existing transport vessels. The gas carrier's propulsion power is 45 MW, which is comparable to the power of a modern nuclear-powered icebreaker. Christophe de Margerie's high ice-breaking capability and maneuverability are ensured by Azipod-type rudder propellers, while it became the world's first high-ice-class vessel with three Azipods installed at once.
The gas carrier is named after Christophe de Margerie, ex-head of the Total concern. He played a key role in the development of investment decisions and the technological scheme of the Yamal LNG project and contributed significant contribution in the development of Russian-French economic relations generally.
Sovcomflot Group (SKF Group) is the largest shipping company in Russia, one of the world's leading companies in the marine transportation of hydrocarbons, as well as servicing offshore exploration and production of oil and gas. Own and chartered fleet includes 149 vessels with a total deadweight of more than 13.1 million tons. Half of the ships have an ice class.
Sovcomflot is involved in servicing major oil and gas projects in Russia and around the world: Sakhalin-1, Sakhalin-2, Varandey, Prirazlomnoye, Novy Port, Yamal LNG, Tangguh (Indonesia). The company's head office is located in St. Petersburg, representative offices are located in Moscow, Novorossiysk, Murmansk, Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, London, Limassol and Dubai.
Supertankers gas carriers transport liquefied natural gas equivalent to the energy of 55 atomic bombs. The liquid from these becomes the means for cooking and heating your home, however, the creation of marine transportation of gas was extremely difficult, although these vessels owe their existence to several amazing ideas. Let's consider them.
The transportation of natural gas around the world is big business. Supertankers much larger than the Titanic and built to carry natural gas anywhere in the world. Everything connected with him has a gigantic scale, but in order to realize this, one must be near him. How do these ships move huge volumes of gas around the world.
There are huge tanks inside. There is enough space for 34 million liters of liquefied gas, the same amount of water would be enough for an ordinary family to flush the toilet for 1200 years. And there are four such tanks on the ship, and inside each the temperature is minus 160 degrees Celsius.
Like oil, natural gas is a fossil fuel formed from the decay of ancient organisms. It can be transferred by pipeline, but it is very expensive and not practical when crossing oceans, instead engineers had to come up with the transportation of gas on ships and the difficulty was that natural gas ignites at any temperature encountered on Earth. A gas leak can be a serious disaster and fortunately there has never been a major accident, and tanker shipping line operators plan to continue in the same spirit.
supertanker tank
There is a very simple solution to turn a gas into a liquid. In this state, it is not able to ignite and, moreover, takes up much less space. If the cargo were in gaseous form, the tanker would have to be unrealistically huge - ten times the length of any existing tanker, or 2,500 meters long.
To turn a gas into a liquid, it is cooled to a temperature of minus 162 degrees Celsius, but it is enough to heat it up, right there, the substance turns into a flammable gas. To this end, there is a second line of defense - nitrogen. It is an inert gas, which is abundant in the air. Under normal conditions, nitrogen does not react with anything and more importantly, it prevents the fuel from combining with oxygen in the presence of any spark. It is impossible to ignite in one scrap if there is enough nitrogen around. On supertankers, potentially toxic nitrogen is safely sealed inside the gas tank's insulation. In the event of a leak, nitrogen does not dangerous goods react with oxygen, and the insulation keeps it in liquid form. Supertankers jokingly called the largest freezers in the world, because this is the equivalent of three hundred thousand home freezers, only ten times colder.
The gas is cooled onshore and pumped in liquid form to a supertanker, but these ultra-low temperatures present great engineering challenges. For this work, you simply cannot use standard steel pipes. Transporting this super-cold liquid through the ship's pipelines presented shipbuilders with a set of new problems, which were solved with stainless steel, to which a little chromium was added. This metal is able to make ordinary brittle steel withstand ultra-low temperatures.
The shipbuilders who created supertankers for the transportation of liquefied natural gas, everything was done so that not only the hulls of these ships were ready to cross rough seas, but that thousands of meters of the most complex pipelines with all their vulnerable bends, connections and taps were made of a material that would withstand low temperatures - alloyed stainless steel.
Transporting liquid on supertankers leads to another problem - how to keep it from splashing. Shipbuilders of such ships had to take care of two types of liquid. When moving in one direction supertanker carries liquefied natural gas, and on the way back, when the tanks are empty, they carry water as ballast to give the ship stability. One problem in two different forms.
Wind and waves will rock the supertanker and cause the liquid to slosh in the tanks from side to side. This movement can increase, intensifying the roll of the ship itself, and lead to catastrophic consequences. This effect is called the influence of the free surface of the liquid. In a literal sense, this is the area available for free splashing of water. This is indeed a problem leading to . Supertankers have amazing solutions. To reduce the influence of the free surface of liquid gas, the tanks are made in the form of a sphere. Thus, there is much less room for liquid to slosh while the tank is full or nearly empty. The tanks are 98 percent filled with cargo and sent to long voyages, having arrived at their destination tankers completely, leaving as much fuel as necessary for the return journey. Therefore, under normal conditions, the containers are either filled to capacity or almost empty.
supertanker systems diagram
Without sediment load supertanker was significantly reduced, and in order to reduce it, water is pumped into the ballast tanks in the ship's hull directly under the gas tanks. However, space does not allow these compartments to be made spherical, so another solution is required to prevent splashing water in them - cargo divider partitions. These are physical barriers, first introduced in the 1880s to prevent oil tankers from tipping over. Baffles protect tankers from overkill.
LNG carriers over 300 meters long will be able to cut ice up to 2 meters thick.
Until factories are built on the Moon or Mars, it will be difficult to find a less hospitable industrial enterprise, how Yamal LNG is a $27 billion natural gas processing plant located in Russia, 600 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle.
In winter, when the sun does not appear for more than two months, the temperature here reaches -25 on land and -50 in the blinding fog of the sea. But this desert is rich in fossil fuels, about 13 trillion cubic meters, which is equivalent to about 8 billion barrels of oil.
Therefore, Yamal LNG, controlled Russian manufacturer natural gas Novatek, gathered partners to spend an unprecedented amount on the new kind fuel transportation.
Conventional tankers are still unable to break through the Arctic ice of the Kara Sea, despite their melting due to global warming. The use of small icebreakers as tanker escorts remains extremely costly and labor intensive. That's why an international collaboration of ship designers, engineers, builders and owners is planning to spend $320 million to build at least 15 300m tankers capable of breaking through the ice on their own.
The vessel will have to perform its tasks in extremely harsh conditions, ”said Bloomberg. Mika Hovilainen, icebreaker specialist in Aker Arctic Technology Inc., a Helsinki-based ship design company. “His systems have to work correctly over a very wide range of temperatures.
These tankers are the largest gas carriers ever built, measuring 50 meters wide. When fully loaded, each can carry just over 1 million barrels of oil. All 15 will be able to carry 16.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year, enough to supply half of South Korea's annual consumption and close to the capacity of Yamal LNG. They will travel west to Europe in winter and east to Asia in summer, passing through two meters of ice.
Icebreakers don't break ice as many people think. Ship hulls are designed to bend the edge of an ice cap and distribute weight evenly over its entire surface. When moving in ice, the tanker uses its aft part, specially adapted for grinding thick ice.
Tests of the first tanker took place in December last year. When moving stern forward in thick ice, its speed was 7.2 knots (13.3 km / h). This is the first ship of this type that sailed along the Northern Sea Route from Siberia to the Bering Strait in 6.5 days.
Building these ships is part of a much larger game. “This is perhaps the biggest step forward in the development of the Arctic,” said the President of Russia Vladimir Putin in December at the launch of the first gas carrier at the Yamal LNG plant. Speaking of the 18th century poet's prediction Mikhail Lomonosov about the expansion of Russia and Siberia, Putin stressed: “Now we can safely say that Russia will expand through the Arctic in this and the next century. Here are largest reserves mineral. This is the place of the future transport artery - the Northern Sea Route, which, I am sure, will become very effective."
In order to cut through the ice, huge efforts are required, which is why the tankers received three generators powered by natural gas with a capacity of 15 megawatts. Any of these ships can "charge" about 35,000 standard American houses.
To avoid excessive operation of the generators, a special thruster manufactured by the Swedish-Swiss engineering giant ABB Ltd., disconnects the engines from the propellers. That is, the propellers can spin faster or slower without making the engine "howl," says Peter Tervish, division president industrial automation ABB. Separating the engine and propeller workload improves fuel efficiency by 20 percent, he says. As a bonus, “you get much better maneuverability,” says Tervish. Never before has driving a supertanker been so easy.
Although LNG tankers have been sailing for about half a century, ferrying fuel from the arid Middle East, until the last decade there was no need for special "ice" models when the Norwegian snohvit and Russian projects "Sakhalin-2" for the first time began gas production in colder climates. Port of Yamal LNG, Sabetta, was designed and built in tandem with the ships that will serve it.
Gazprom's long-term development strategy involves the development of new markets and the diversification of activities. Therefore, one of key tasks companies today is to increase the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and LNG market share.
The advantageous geographical position of Russia makes it possible to supply gas all over the world. The growing market of the Asia-Pacific Region (APR) will be a key consumer of gas in the coming decades. Two Far Eastern LNG projects will allow Gazprom to strengthen its position in the Asia-Pacific region - the already operating Sakhalin-2 and the Vladivostok-LNG under implementation. Our other project, the Baltic LNG, is aimed at the countries of the Atlantic region.
We will tell you about how gas is liquefied and LNG is transported in our photo report.
The first and so far the only LNG plant in Russia (LNG plant) is located on the shores of Aniva Bay in the south of the Sakhalin Region. The plant produced the first batch of LNG in 2009. Since then, more than 900 LNG shipments have been sent to Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, India and Kuwait (1 standard LNG shipment = 65,000 tons). The plant annually produces more than 10 million tons of liquefied gas and provides more than 4% of the world's LNG supplies. This share may grow — in June 2015, Gazprom and Shell signed a Memorandum on the implementation of the project for the construction of the third technological line of the LNG plant under the Sakhalin-2 project.
The operator of the Sakhalin-2 project is Sakhalin Energy, in which Gazprom (50% plus 1 share), Shell (27.5% minus 1 share), Mitsui (12.5%) and Mitsubishi (10%) have shares. ). Sakhalin Energy is developing the Piltun-Astokhskoye and Lunskoye fields in the Sea of Okhotsk. The LNG plant receives gas from the Lunskoye field.
Having traveled more than 800 km from the north of the island to the south, gas enters the plant through this yellow pipe. First of all, at the gas measuring station, the composition and volume of the incoming gas are determined and sent for purification. Before liquefaction, raw materials must be freed from impurities of dust, carbon dioxide, mercury, hydrogen sulfide and water, which turns into ice when the gas is liquefied.
The main component of LNG is methane, which must contain at least 92%. The dried and purified raw gas continues its way along the technological line, its liquefaction begins. This process is divided into two stages - first, the gas is cooled to -50 degrees, then - to -160 degrees Celsius. After the first stage of cooling, heavy components - ethane and propane - are separated.
As a result, ethane and propane are sent to storage in these two tanks (ethane and propane will be needed in further stages of liquefaction).
These columns are the main refrigerator of the plant, it is in them that the gas becomes liquid, cooling down to -160 degrees. The gas is liquefied using a technology specially developed for the plant. Its essence is that methane is cooled with the help of a refrigerant previously separated from the feed gas: ethane and propane. The liquefaction process takes place at normal atmospheric pressure.
Liquefied gas is sent to two tanks, where it is also stored at atmospheric pressure until it is shipped to the gas carrier. The height of these structures is 38 meters, the diameter is 67 meters, the volume of each tank is 100 thousand cubic meters. The tanks are double-walled. The inner body is made of cold-resistant nickel steel, the outer case is made of prestressed reinforced concrete. The one and a half meter space between the buildings is filled with perlite ( rock volcanic origin), it supports the necessary temperature regime in the inner shell of the tank.
A tour of the LNG plant was given to us by the leading engineer of the enterprise, Mikhail Shilikovskiy. He joined the company in 2006, participated in the completion of the construction of the plant and its launch. Now the enterprise has two parallel technological lines, each of which produces up to 3.2 thousand cubic meters of LNG per hour. Separation of production allows to reduce the energy consumption of the process. For the same reason, the gas is cooled in stages.
An oil export terminal is located five hundred meters from the LNG plant. It is much simpler. After all, oil here, in fact, is waiting for the time to send it to the next buyer. Oil also comes to the south of Sakhalin from the north of the island. Already at the terminal it is mixed with gas condensate released during the preparation of gas for liquefaction.
Stored " black gold» in two such tanks with a volume of 95.4 thousand tons each. The tanks are equipped with a floating roof - if we looked at them from a bird's eye view, we would see the volume of oil in each of them. It takes about 7 days to completely fill the tanks with oil. Therefore, oil is shipped once a week (LNG is shipped once every 2-3 days).
All production processes at the LNG plant and oil terminal are closely monitored from a central control room (CPU). All production sites are equipped with cameras and sensors. The CPU is divided into three parts: the first is responsible for life support systems, the second controls security systems, the third monitors production processes. Control over gas liquefaction and its shipment lies on the shoulders of three people, each of whom during his shift (it lasts 12 hours) every minute checks up to 3 control circuits. In this work, speed of reaction and experience are important.
One of the most experienced people here is the Malaysian Viktor Botin (he himself does not know why his name and surname are so consonant with Russians, but he says that everyone asks him this question when they meet). On Sakhalin, Victor has been teaching young specialists on CPU simulators for 4 years now, but with real tasks. The training of a beginner lasts a year and a half, then the coach closely monitors his work “in the field” for the same amount of time.
But the laboratory employees daily examine not only samples of raw materials received at the production complex and study the composition of shipped LNG and oil batches, but also check the quality of oil products and lubricants that are used both on the territory of the production complex and outside it. In this frame, you can see laboratory technician Albina Garifulina examining the composition of lubricants to be used on drilling platforms in the Sea of Okhotsk.
And this is no longer research, but experiments with LNG. From the outside, liquid gas is similar to plain water, but it evaporates quickly at room temperature and is so cold that it is impossible to work with it without special gloves. The essence of this experience is that any living organism is frozen upon contact with LNG. The chrysanthemum, lowered into the flask, was completely covered with an ice crust in just 2-3 seconds.
Meanwhile, the shipment of LNG begins. The port of Prigorodnoye accepts gas carriers of various capacities - from small ones capable of transporting 18 thousand cubic meters of LNG at a time, to such large ones as the gas carrier Ob River, which you can see in the photo, with a capacity of almost 150 thousand cubic meters. Liquefied gas goes to tanks (as the tanks for LNG transportation on gas carriers are called) through pipes located under the 800-meter pier.
Shipment of LNG to such a tanker takes 16-18 hours. The berth is connected to the vessel by special sleeves - standers. This can be easily identified by the thick layer of ice on the metal that forms due to the temperature difference between the LNG and the air. In the warm season, a more impressive crust forms on the metal. Photo from the archive.
LNG has been shipped, the ice has been melted, the standers have been disconnected, and you can hit the road. Our destination is the South Korean port of Gwangyang.
Since for shipment LNG tanker moored in the port of Prigorodnoy on the left side, four tugboats help the gas carrier to leave the port. They literally drag it along until the tanker can turn around to continue on its own. In winter, the duties of these tugs also include clearing the approaches to the berths from ice.
LNG tankers are faster than other cargo ships, and even more so they can outperform any passenger liner. Max speed gas carrier "River Ob" - more than 19 knots or about 36 km per hour (the speed of a standard oil tanker is 14 knots). The ship can reach South Korea in a little more than two days. But, taking into account the tight schedule of LNG loading and receiving terminals, the speed of the tanker and its route are being adjusted. Our voyage will last almost a week and will include one small stop off the coast of Sakhalin.
Such a stop saves fuel and has already become a tradition for all crews of gas carriers. While we were at anchor waiting for a suitable departure time, next to us, the Grand Mereya tanker was waiting for its turn to moor in the Sakhalin port.
And now we invite you to get to know the Reka Ob gas carrier and its crew better. This photo was taken in the fall of 2012 during the transportation of the world's first LNG shipment by the northern sea route.
It was the tanker Reka Ob that, accompanied by the icebreakers 50 Years of Pobedy, Rossiya, Vaygach and two ice pilots, delivered a batch of LNG owned by Gazprom's subsidiary, Gazprom Marketing and Trading (Gazprom Marketing & Trading) or GMT (GM&T) for short, from Norway to Japan. The journey took almost a month.
The "River Ob" in its parameters can be compared with a floating residential area. The tanker is 288 meters long, 44 meters wide, and has a draft of 11.2 meters. When you are on such a gigantic ship, even two-meter waves seem like splashes, which, crashing against the side, create bizarre patterns on the water.
The Ob River gas carrier got its name in the summer of 2012, after signing a lease agreement between Gazprom Marketing and Trading and the Greek shipping company Dynagas. Prior to this, the vessel was called "Clean Power" (Clean Power) and until April 2013 worked around the world for GMT (including twice through the northern sea route). Then it was chartered by Sakhalin Energy and will now operate in the Far East until 2018.
Membrane tanks for liquefied gas are located in the bow of the ship and, unlike the spherical tanks (which we saw at the Grand Merey), are hidden from view - they are given out only by pipes with valves sticking out above the deck. In total, there are four tanks on the Ob River - with a volume of 25, 39 and two of 43 thousand cubic meters of gas each. Each of them is filled no more than 98.5%. LNG tanks have a multi-layer steel body, the space between the layers is filled with nitrogen. This allows you to keep the temperature of the liquid fuel, and also by creating more pressure in the membrane layers than in the tank itself, to prevent damage to the tanks.
The tanker is also provided with an LNG cooling system. As soon as the cargo begins to heat up, the pump turns on in the tanks, which pumps colder LNG from the bottom of the tank and sprays it onto the upper layers of the heated gas. Such a process of LNG cooling by LNG itself makes it possible to reduce the loss of "blue fuel" during transportation to the consumer to a minimum. But it only works while the ship is moving. The heated gas, which is no longer amenable to cooling, exits the tank through a special pipe and is sent to the engine room, where it is burned instead of ship fuel.
LNG temperature and pressure in the tanks are monitored daily by gas engineer Ronaldo Ramos. He takes readings from the sensors installed on the deck several times a day.
A deeper analysis of the cargo is carried out by a computer. At the control panel, where there is all the necessary information about LNG, the senior assistant captain-understudy Pankaj Puneet and the third assistant captain Nikolai Budzinsky are on duty.
And this engine room is the heart of the tanker. On four decks (floors) there are engines, diesel generators, pumps, boilers and compressors, which are responsible not only for the movement of the vessel, but also for all life systems. The coordinated work of all these mechanisms provides a team drinking water, heat, electricity, fresh air.
This photo and video was taken at the very bottom of the tanker - almost 15 meters under water. In the center of the frame is a turbine. Driven by steam, it makes 4-5 thousand revolutions per minute and makes the screw rotate, which, in turn, sets the ship itself in motion.
Mechanics led by Chief Engineer Manjit Singh make sure that everything on the ship runs like clockwork...
…and second mechanic Ashwani Kumar. Both come from India, but, according to their own estimates, they spent most of their lives at sea.
Their subordinates, mechanics, are responsible for the serviceability of equipment in the engine room. In the event of a breakdown, they immediately begin repairs, as well as regularly carry out technical inspection each unit.
What needs more careful attention is sent to repair shop. This one is here too. Third mechanic Arnulfo Ole (left) and trainee mechanic Ilya Kuznetsov (right) repair a part of one of the pumps.
The brain of a ship is the captain's bridge. Captain Velemir Vasilic (Velemir Vasilic) heard the call of the sea in early childhood - in every third family of his hometown in Croatia there is a sailor. At the age of 18, he already went to sea. Since then, 21 years have passed, he has changed more than a dozen ships - he worked on both cargo and passenger ships.
But even on vacation will find an opportunity go out to sea, even on a small yacht. It is recognized that then there is a real opportunity to enjoy the sea. After all, the captain has a lot of worries at work - he is responsible not only for the tanker, but also for each member of the team (there are 34 of them on the Ob River).
The captain's bridge of a modern vessel, in terms of the presence of working panels, instruments and various sensors, resembles the cockpit of an airliner, even the controls are similar. In the photo, sailor Aldrin Galang waits for the captain's command before taking the helm.
The gas carrier is equipped with radars that allow you to accurately indicate the type of vessel in the vicinity, its name and number of crew, navigation systems and GPS sensors that automatically determine the location of the Ob River, electronic cards, marking the points of passage of the vessel and laying its forthcoming route, and electronic compasses. Experienced sailors, however, teach young people not to depend on electronics - and from time to time they give the task to determine the location of the ship by the stars or the sun. Pictured are third mate Roger Dias and second mate Muhammad Imran Hanif.
Failed so far technical progress displace paper maps, on which, with the help of simple pencil and ruler every hour the location of the tanker is marked, and the ship's logbook, which is also filled out by hand.
So, it's time to continue our journey. The "Ob River" is unanchored weighing 14 tons. The anchor chain, almost 400 meters long, is lifted by special machines. This is followed by several members of the team.
For everything about everything - no more than 15 minutes. How much time this process would take if the anchor were raised manually, the command is not taken to calculate.
Experienced sailors say that modern ship life is very different from what it was 20 years ago. Now discipline and a strict schedule are at the forefront. From the moment of launch, round-the-clock duty has been organized on the captain's bridge. Three groups of two people daily for eight hours a day (of course, with breaks), keep watch on the navigation bridge. The duty officers monitor the course of the gas carrier and, in general, the situation, both on the ship itself and outside it. We also carried one of the shifts under the strict control of Roger Diaz and Nikolai Budzinsky.
At this time, mechanics have a different job - they not only monitor the equipment in the engine room, but also maintain spare and emergency equipment in working condition. For example, changing the oil in a lifeboat. There are two such on the Ob River in case of emergency evacuation, each is designed for 44 people and is already filled with the necessary supply of water, food and medicine.
Sailors are washing the deck at this time ...
...and clean the premises - cleanliness on the ship is as important as discipline.
Practically daily training alarms add variety to routine work. The entire crew takes part in them, postponing their main duties for a while. During the week of our stay on the tanker, we observed three drills. At first, the team did their best to put out an imaginary fire in the incinerator.
Then she rescued a conditional victim who had fallen from a great height. In this frame, you can see the almost saved "man" - he was handed over to the medical team, which transports the victim to the hospital. The role of everyone in training alarms is almost documented. The medical team in such training is led by cook Ceazar Cruz Campana (Ceazar Cruz Campana, center) and his assistants Maximo Respecia (Maximo Respecia, left) and Reygerield Alagos (Reygerield Alagos, right).
The third training session - the search for a conditional bomb - was more like a quest. The process was supervised by the senior assistant to the captain Grival Gianadzhan (Grewal Gianni, third from the left). The entire crew of the vessel was divided into teams, each of which received cards with a list of places necessary for checking ...
…and began to search for a large green box with the inscription "Bomb". Of course, for speed.
Work is work, and lunch is on schedule. Filipino Caesar Cruz Campana is responsible for three meals a day, you have already seen him in the photo earlier. Professional culinary education and more than 20 years of experience on ships allow him to do his job quickly and effortlessly. It is recognized that during this time he traveled the whole world, except for Scandinavia and Alaska, and studied well the tastes of each people in food.
Not everyone will cope with the task of satisfyingly feeding such an international team. To please everyone, he prepares Indian, Malaysian and Continental dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Maximo and Reigerield help him in this.
Often members of the crew also drop in on a visit to the galley (in the ship's language, the kitchen is called so). Sometimes, missing home, they cook national dishes themselves. They cook not only for themselves, but also treat the whole crew. In this case, they collectively helped to finish the Indian dessert laddu prepared by Pankach (left). While Cook Caesar finished preparing the main dishes for dinner, Roger (second from left) and Muhammad (second from right) helped a colleague sculpt small balls of sweet dough.
Russian sailors introduce foreign colleagues to their culture through music. The captain's third mate, Sergei Solnov, plays guitar music with original Russian motives before dinner.
Joint spending of free time on the ship is welcome - the officers serve for three months in a row, the private - almost a year. During this time, all crew members became not just colleagues for each other, but friends. The team on weekends (here it's Sunday: everyone's duties are not canceled, but they try to give less tasks to the crew) arranges joint movie screenings, karaoke contests or team competitions in video games.
But the most in demand here is leisure- in the conditions of the open sea, table tennis is considered the most active team sport. In the local gym, the crew arranges real tournaments at the tennis table.
Meanwhile, the already familiar landscape began to change, the earth appeared on the horizon. We are approaching the coast of South Korea.
This completes the transport of LNG. At the regasification terminal, liquefied gas becomes gaseous again and is sent to South Korean consumers.
And the Ob River, after the tanks are completely empty, returns to Sakhalin for another batch of LNG. To which of the Asian countries the gas carrier will go after, it often becomes known immediately before the start of loading the vessel with Russian gas.
Our gas voyage is over, and the LNG component of Gazprom's business, like a huge gas tanker, is actively gaining cruising speed. We wish this big "ship" a great voyage.
P.S. Photo and video shooting was carried out in compliance with all safety requirements. We express our gratitude to the employees of Gazprom Marketing and Trading and Sakhalin Energy for their help in organizing the filming.
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