Icebreaker "Alexander Sannikov" - heading for the Arctic. Icebreaking support vessel "Alexander Sannikov" for LLC "Gazpromneft Novy Port" project Aker Arc130A. Novoportovskoye field and Novy Port
At the Vyborg Shipyard in the Leningrad Region, three icebreaking vessels are being prepared for delivery to the customer. We have already talked about, which is being built by order of Atomflot. Our today's hero is the multifunctional icebreaking support vessel "Alexander Sannikov".
The photography took place in November 2017 with the active participation of the marketing department of the Vyborg Shipyard.
The construction of two icebreaking support vessels of the Aker Arc 130A project began at the Vyborg Shipyard in 2015.
The shipbuilders signed a contract with Gazpromneft Novy Port LLC, a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft PJSC.
It is assumed that icebreaking ships will operate at the Gates of the Arctic shipping terminal of the Novoportovskoye field, located in the west of the Gulf of Ob on the Yamal Peninsula.
The conceptual design of the vessel was created by the Finnish company Aker Arctic Technology. The author of the technical project is "Marine Engineering Bureau". The working design documentation was prepared by PKB "Petrobalt".
Currently, the installation of equipment and engineering systems is underway on the icebreaker.
This is how the elements of pipelines and engineering systems of the icebreaker look on the shore.
Despite the policy of import substitution proclaimed by the authorities, foreign brands are common. Perhaps some of them are already localized in Russia.
According to the project developers, the Aker Arc 130A icebreaking vessel can overcome solid ice up to 2 m thick at a speed of 2 knots, moving both bow and stern.
"Alexander Sannikov" strives to keep up with the times. The vessel is designed according to the “zero discharge” principle. This means that all solid and liquid waste is stored on board and disposed of ashore.
The propulsion complex of the icebreaker includes three rudder propellers (two in the stern of the ship and one in the bow). According to the test results, this configuration will allow you to work as efficiently as possible in the harsh conditions of the intended area of operation.
As for the main characteristics, the power of "Alexander Sannikov" will be 22 MW, length - 121.7 m, width of the main deck - 26 m. With a deadweight of 3,400 tons, the vessel is capable of speeds up to 16 knots.
The crew of the icebreaker consists of 21 people. Autonomy reaches 30 days.
The icebreaker "Alexander Sannikov", whose construction began in November 2015, entered the Baltic Sea for the final stage of sea trials on May 19 this year. The vessel "Andrey Vilkitsky" is now also at fitting-out works. Another major VZS project, the port icebreaker Ob, will be launched on June 21 this year.
The degree of readiness of the vessel "Alexander Sannikov", according to the information of the customer, the company "Gazprom Neft", exceeds 98%. In addition to the "Alexander Sannikov", VSZ is building another vessel for "" - the icebreaker "Andrey Vilkitsky", which will also work at the terminal of the Novoportovskoye field. Now, according to VZZ, its construction is completed by 88%. The cost of both icebreakers is 246 million euros.
The deadlines for the delivery of icebreakers were disrupted: initially, the plant had to transfer the finished vessels to the customer by the end of 2018. As VZZ explained to DP, the main reason for the delay in construction is the delay in the supply of equipment for the ship. "Alexander Sannikov" is currently the most powerful diesel icebreaker in the world with the Icebreaker8 class, an innovative system of propulsion and maneuvering in ice. The plant had to buy equipment for it from foreign companies (Swedish ABB). "Due to the geopolitical situation throughout the entire course of construction, both contractual interactions and banking operations with many foreign suppliers were significantly hampered, some of which completely refused to fulfill their contractual obligations," the VZZ explains.
The Gazprom Neft company assures that the current situation "did not affect shipments from the Novoportovskoye field, since two multifunctional icebreaking vessels, Baltika and Vladislav Strizhov, are constantly operating in the waters of the Gulf of Ob near the Arctic Gates terminal."
Problems with the construction of icebreakers for Gazprom Neft also pushed back the deadline for commissioning the port icebreaker Ob, worth $97 million, commissioned by the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "" to work on the Yamal LNG project. Completion of the construction of the vessel was originally scheduled for November 2018, but now VZZ plans to commission it only at the beginning of 2019.
FSUE Atomflot told DP that, despite the change in the deadlines for the commissioning of the icebreaker Ob, FSUE Atomflot has no serious claims to the VZS regarding the quality and construction of the vessel. "Currently, work in the Gulf of Ob is being carried out with the involvement of an additional icebreaker. The postponement of the delivery of the vessel will not affect the fulfillment of our contractual obligations to partners," explains Mustafa Kashka, acting. Director General of FSUE "Atomflot"
The ceremony of raising the Russian flag on the new icebreaker took place in St. Petersburg. Alexander Sannikov opens up new prospects for year-round supplies of Arctic oil to the world market. This is the first icebreaker built under the Arctic Time program. Under the program, 6 tankers have already been launched and are in operation to transport oil from the Novoportovskoye field. The new icebreaker will begin their regular escort in July. According to Gazprom Neft forecasts, by 2030 the market demand for transportation along the Northern Sea Route will increase by a third, so the presence of a modern icebreaking and tanker fleet is essential for these transportations.
Novoportovskoye field and Novy Port
The Novoportovskoye field is one of the largest oil and gas condensate fields under development on the Yamal Peninsula. It is located 30 km from the coast of the Gulf of Ob. The recoverable reserves are more than 250 million tons of oil and condensate, as well as more than 320 billion cubic meters of gas. The field was discovered in the last century and is located in the eastern part of the Yamal Peninsula, 100 kilometers from the Gulf of Ob.
During the Soviet years, there were no opportunities to transport oil from this area - for many years, only exploration work took place at Novoportovskoye. And only in the 10s of this century, technologies appeared that, in a short time, helped Gazprom Neft to make a breakthrough and be able to begin fully exploiting the field. Efficient development of the Novoportovskoye reserves required the construction of horizontal and multilateral wells, as well as the use of multi-stage hydraulic fracturing.
In 2016, Gazpromneft-Yamal extended the right to use the subsoil of the Novoportovskoye field until 2150. To date, this is the longest license term in Gazprom Neft's asset portfolio. The oil found at the Novoportovskoye field, called Novy Port, belongs to the category of light grades with a low sulfur content (about 0.1 percent). Potential consumers from the countries of Northern Europe, where plants specializing in the processing of light sweet oil, immediately became interested in this.
However, one could speak of serious contracts with Europeans only with a stable, year-round supply of fuel. Gazprom Neft, together with scientists from shipbuilding and marine engineering, began to solve the ambitious task of year-round transportation of raw materials by tankers with the support of icebreakers. To do this, a 105-kilometer long pipeline was laid from the Novoportovskoye field to the shore of the Gulf of Ob, which was connected to the world's first and only oil loading terminal in fresh waters beyond the Arctic Circle.
Through the Gates of the Arctic to Europe
Gates of the Arctic is a unique remote oil loading terminal for transporting oil from the Novoportovskoye field. In fact, this is a huge crane located right in the Gulf of Ob - 3.5 kilometers from the coast. Oil is delivered there via a 10.5 km long onshore and underwater oil pipeline and then goes directly to the tanker.
A tank farm and pumping stations were built with a water hammer protection system, which guarantees the tightness of the entire system. The technological scheme provides "zero discharge" of any pollutants into the water area of the Gulf of Ob. The Gates of the Arctic terminal is a grandiose spectacle - it rises 80 meters above the water. The capacity of the transshipment complex is 8.6 million tons of oil per year.
Thanks to the creation of the Gates of the Arctic, the first oil from the Novoportovskoye field went to Europe along the Northern Sea Route in the summer of 2014. In 2015, winter shipments began, which were accompanied by nuclear-powered icebreakers. But even then it became clear that it was extremely difficult to supply oil in an industrial volume from the field using the usual methods.
The Gulf of Ob is very complex in hydrological terms - it is shallow, the water in it is practically fresh, and given that the water area is covered with ice for 255 days a year, the thickness of the ice cover here fluctuates around two meters. In addition, in winter, the air temperature is constantly kept at minus 50 degrees Celsius, and strong storm winds blow here.
Under such conditions, the passage of tankers is very difficult, no matter what ice class they have. Modern icebreakers are needed to cut and maintain channels through the ice that cargo ships can navigate on their own. It was for this purpose that the Alexander Sannikov was built. The Gulf of Ob and the Kara Sea will be the place of its permanent deployment - from there, tankers from the New Port leave for the Barents Sea and then go to the ports in Murmansk and Europe. Thanks to the development of this northern sea route, the geography of supplies of Novy Port oil over the past few years has been expanded to 9 countries, including the UK, France, Norway and the Netherlands.
Arctic Fleet of Gazprom Neft
The active development of the Novoportovskoye and Prirazlomnoye fields has increased the number of tanker refueling operations in the Arctic by almost a third. Therefore, Gazprom Neft faced the task of creating its own Arctic fleet. In 2017, by order of the company, a series of Arctic tankers were built, capable of breaking ice up to 1.8 meters thick with a draft of 9 meters and with a carrying capacity of about 35,000 tons. Naturally, there was also a need for icebreakers that could not only navigate ships through hummocks, but also constantly maintain the fairway in access mode, as well as participate in mooring and loading operations, rescue operations, towing ships, fire fighting, and oil spill response. They must be both powerful and at the same time maneuverable.
An order for the creation of two new icebreakers of the ICEBREAKER 8 class has been placed. And so, on June 29, 2018, the first of the two vessels of this project, the Alexander Sannikov, was presented on the English Embankment in St. Petersburg before its first trip to the Arctic.
Secrets of the new icebreaker
Icebreaker "Alexander Sannikov" is a real floating city. On clean water, it can accelerate to 16 knots, that is, up to 25 kilometers per hour. In addition, the vessel has a low draft - up to 8 meters, which is ideal for working in shallow water where nuclear icebreakers will not pass. The ship has a multifunctional deck with the possibility of transporting cargo containers, a fire station, a hospital, a helipad. There are also emergency boats, a powerful winch and a crane with a lifting capacity of 26 tons - the functionality of the Alexander Sannikov significantly exceeds most of its nuclear and diesel predecessors.
Video: Popcorner / YouTube
The most important design feature of the vessel - "Alexander Sannikov" does not push through the ice, as classic icebreakers do, but cuts it and, as it were, "mills" the ice mass. The secret of the new vessel lies in the special shape of the hull and three dynamic engines located in the stern and bow. It is this technical solution that gives Alexander Sannikov an advantage in maneuverability. If necessary, the icebreaker can turn around 360 degrees in just a minute.
A significant part of the equipment installed on the Alexander Sannikov icebreaker is Russian-made. The Zvyozdochka Shipbuilding Center in Severodvinsk has equipped the vessel with the most modern bow thruster. Domestic manufacturers also provided the icebreaker with modern navigation equipment, navigation bridge, generators - the most important elements that ensure the operation of the icebreaker.
No worse than atomic predecessors
Experts believe that today "Alexander Sannikov" is one of the most high-tech icebreakers. The vessel is built to provide up to 40 days of battery life in extreme temperatures down to minus 50 degrees. On-board computers fully regulate the life support of the icebreaker, start generators, synchronize equipment, manage emergency modes, regulate temperature and technological conditions on all decks of the vessel. The digitalization of icebreaker control has increased the efficiency of the crew - to perform similar functionality on other icebreakers, a twofold increase in the number of crew is required.
With the power of its diesel engines of 22 megawatts, "Alexander Sannikov" shows an icebreaking ability comparable to nuclear icebreakers with greater power. It remains to be added that on the Alexander Sannikov all solid and liquid wastes are stored on board and disposed of on shore by special services. The sewage disposal system on the ship has a closed cycle: they are collected in a special collection tank, from which the effluents are fed to the treatment plant for cleaning and neutralization.
On July 2, 2018, the Alexander Sannikov icebreaker, built for Gazprom Neft at the shipyards of the Vyborg Shipyard, set off on its first voyage beyond the Arctic Circle in St. Petersburg. There are no more icebreakers of similar equipment in Russia. The vessel is built to provide up to 40 days of battery life in extreme temperatures of minus 50 degrees. On-board computers fully regulate the life support of the icebreaker, start generators, synchronize equipment, regulate temperature and technological conditions on all decks of the ship. According to experts, the growing oil production beyond the Arctic Circle in the coming years will require Russia to increase the production of such modern ships of the Arctic class.
The flag is raised
Oilmen are opening a new milestone in the development of the Russian Arctic. Last Friday, Gazprom Neft, the only company producing oil on the Russian Arctic shelf, received its first icebreaker Alexander Sannikov. The ship was built under the Arctic Time program, under which six tankers have already been launched and are in operation to transport oil from the Novoportovskoye field. The new icebreaker will begin their regular escort from August.
Thanks to such icebreakers, oilmen will be able to transport oil more efficiently and economically from hard-to-reach areas of the Russian north, Vadim Yakovlev, deputy chairman of the company's board, said during the flag-raising ceremony.
We have built a unique scheme for the export of oil by water along the Gulf of Ob and further along the Northern Sea Route. To solve this problem, the construction of modern powerful vessels is required, and today the Alexander Sannikov icebreaker is the new flagship of the Arctic fleet,” the top manager noted.
The second newest diesel-powered icebreaker, Andrei Vilkitsky, is expected by Gazprom Neft by the end of this year.
According to Gazprom Neft forecasts, by 2030 the demand for transportation along the Northern Sea Route will increase by a third. The development of its own Arctic fleet will allow the company to maintain leadership in the Russian Arctic in the long term.
Arctic innovations
The current generation of icebreakers is considered the most innovative in its class. One of the main technical innovations is a control system capable of completely taking control of the icebreaker's piloting for several days without the need for human intervention.
In addition, the vessel does not actually "press" the ice, as was the case on the icebreakers of the previous generation, but erodes and crumbles it with the help of a special hull and propellers installed both at the stern and under the "bow". Thus, in solid ice, a ship can move at an average speed of more than 4 km / h, and in clear water it can accelerate up to 30 km / h.
The icebreaker differs from its predecessors in terms of functionality. For example, due to the rather low draft (up to 8 m), it can work without problems in shallow water, where nuclear icebreakers, as a rule, cannot pass. If necessary, the icebreaker is able to turn around or even make a complete 360-degree turn in just a minute. Even under equal conditions, the icebreaker significantly outperforms its comrades-in-arms both in terms of economy (on passages in ice 2 m thick, it needs only 22 MW versus 36 MW for nuclear-powered ships of the Taimyr type) and in environmental friendliness (the principle of "zero discharge" involves storing all waste up to end of flight).
Own fire station, hospital, helipad, emergency boats, a powerful winch and a crane with a lifting capacity of 26 tons - the functionality of the "Alexander Sannikov" surpasses most of the existing icebreakers. In addition to helping tankers, he can independently transport cargo, act as a towing vehicle and participate in rescue operations.
Technologies for oil
It was not possible for all, even the newest, shipyards of the world to build such a technologically advanced icebreaker. The Vyborg Shipbuilding Plant (owned by USC) invited the world's largest manufacturers from Europe, Japan and Singapore to participate in the creation of the icebreaker, but most of them stated that it was impossible to complete the order in such a short time. The Severodvinsk "Zvezdochka" undertook to equip the ship with the most modern thrusters. This is largely due to the uniqueness of the Russian icebreaking shipbuilding industry - no other country in the world has such a fleet. However, until recently, many of the Arctic shipyards were underloaded, and only after 2014 did Russia start a large-scale fleet renewal program based on investment quotas. For example, thanks to Gazprom Neft, the Vyborg Shipyard is fully loaded with orders until 2023.
"Alexander Sannikov" and "Andrey Vilkitsky" will go to the Gulf of Ob to escort tankers with Arctic Novy Port oil. Here, Gazprom Neft is conducting a large-scale operation of the Novoportovskoye field, from which shipments are made through the Gates of the Arctic terminal. This is the only oil loading terminal in the world in fresh waters beyond the Arctic Circle. Due to the fact that the New Port is located 700 km from the existing pipelines, hydrocarbons are exported from there by sea. With the help of the new vessels, the company expects to increase the efficiency and stability of year-round transportation in the Gulf of Ob, which is ice-bound for more than 255 days a year.
This is a very serious challenge, but we accept this challenge. Traditional fields are experiencing a natural depletion of reserves, while demand continues to grow, so the Russian Arctic and hard-to-recover reserves are the future for our oil industry,” Alexander Dyukov, Chairman of the Board, CEO of Gazprom Neft, told reporters.
The volume of work for the new vessel is going to be solid - in 2018 alone, it is planned to produce about 7 million tons of oil at the Novoportovskoye field, and by the beginning of 2020 they want to produce up to 8 million tons annually. With the help of new icebreakers, the company plans to further expand the supply of Arctic oil, which is already exported to nine countries of the world, including the UK, France, Norway and the Netherlands.
Although Russia has the most powerful Arctic fleet in the world, there is still a shortage of new high-tech icebreakers on the market. The purchase of a vessel for an oil company operating in the Arctic is quite logical: the maintenance of an oil terminal requires virtually year-round navigation, which is expensive and not always advisable due to rented icebreakers due to increasing technology requirements, the head of the Arktika department said in a conversation with Izvestia and the Shelf laboratory of the Institute of Oil and Gas Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vasily Bogoyavlensky.
According to him, most of the tankers already operating in the Gulf of Ob are capable of moving through the ice themselves, but depending on the ice situation, they may also require escort. Thus, the new icebreakers, according to the expert, significantly increase the safety of oil and gas production on the Russian shelf.
This week, an orange icebreaker appeared on the Angliskaya Embankment near the Blagoveshchensky Bridge - today the Russian flag was raised on the Alexander Sannikov, and in July it will set off for the Arctic. We were the first to get inside the ship and talked with the technical superintendent of the Fleet Construction and Operation Administration Mikhail Borzykh about how people and mechanisms survive at a temperature of minus 50.
What is unique about this ship?
"Alexander Sannikov" is adapted to work at minus 50 - which means that its mechanisms were tested at a temperature lower by another ten degrees. This is a unique case: even the most frost-resistant equipment today is designed for minus 40. Therefore, a problem arose during construction: there were simply no manufacturers in the world who created something like this.
Any material in the cold is significantly reduced, and ordinary deck steel becomes brittle. Therefore, the tender participants had to conduct special tests and receive new certificates. The icebreaker was designed and assembled at the Vyborg Shipyard, but its parts were brought from all over the world.
The power of the Sannikov is comparable to the characteristics of nuclear icebreakers, and the volume is much smaller, which will allow it to operate in shallow water conditions. Another plus is maneuverability, its propeller is not in the body, but under it, so it can turn 360 degrees on the spot in a minute. “When experienced sailors see this, they have horror in their eyes,” comments Mikhail Borzykh. The speed of the ship is 16 knots, which is about 30 km/h, and on two meters thick ice it can move at a speed of 2 knots.
Its propellers can crush ice - that is why the ship is able to overcome jumpers two to three times larger than its hull. An ordinary icebreaker works with its own weight: it drives onto an ice floe and pushes through it. The Sannikov has a different system: it blurs the ice in front, pushes it apart, and does not hit it.
There is a helipad, enclosed boats that look more like portable homes, systems that can be used to put out fires on oil rigs and clean up oil spills, and even a pool for the crew. The ship has zero emissions - that is, it does not discharge any pollutants into nature, all waste is either processed directly on board or stored until it is returned.
Why was Sannikov built?
This vessel was built to work at the Novoportovskoye oil and gas condensate field on the Yamal Peninsula, where it will be in late July-early August. Natural resources were discovered here in the middle of the last century, but due to severe weather conditions, they were not mined. The first batch of oil departed from there in 2014, and it can only be transported by sea. In order for tankers to be able to pass through the Gulf of Ob, where the ice keeps 255 days a year, an icebreaker is needed. But a massive atomic would just get stuck here because of the shallow depth.
Crew
The ship is built to the highest class of automation possible today, so only 19 people work here. For comparison, on a nuclear icebreaker, the crew consists of 96 specialists. Schedule: four in four months. You have to be on watch for four hours twice a day, every day, without days off and holidays. The main task of employees is to prevent equipment breakdown, so it will be lubricated, serviced, and repaired daily.
“The work is difficult: in isolation, at low temperatures, not everyone can withstand it,” says Mikhail Borzykh, “The system for training personnel working in extreme conditions is clearly defined and spelled out with blood. A modern sailor, before boarding a ship, must have 11 documents confirming his qualifications, know how to escape in any conditions, be psychologically stable - there can be no nervous people on an icebreaker. In such a small closed team, normal relations are very important, so a particularly conflicted one can be sent home earlier: on the first ship passing by - there have been such cases.