Teekay Speeds up ARC7 LNG Tanker Delivery

Teekay LNG Partners, part of the Teekay Corp group of companies, said on Thursday it had been asked to accelerate the delivery of an LNG tanker with Arctic credentials for the Yamal LNG project operated by Russia's Novatek.

Yamal LNG project had ordered 15 ARC7 ice-class LNG tankers as the liquefaction plant ramps up production

Four ARC7 tankers had been delivered by the end of last year, including the Boris Vilkitsky, Fedor Litke and Vladimir Rusanov, which have been transporting LNG from Yamal since the start of operations at the end of last year

"The Yamal LNG consortium has asked us to deliver our second ARC7 LNG carrier earlier than the scheduled November 2018 date," said Mark Kremin, president and chief executive of Teekay Gas Group Ltd

"We are making arrangements to meet this request in order to service the project's second LNG train, which is expected to come online in September 2018"

The first train, or LNG plant, has a capacity of 5.5 million tonnes a year (mtpa). Cargos coming from the second train, with the same capacity, have already changed hands, according to traders

The trades and earlier delivery of an LNG tanker show the project is progressing as planned in an industry more used to delays and overblown budgets for its complex megaprojects

A third train with 5.5 mtpa capacity is due to start operations in January 2019 and a final train of 0.9 mtpa by the end of 2019

The Vladimir Rusanov was the first LNG carrier to transport Yamal LNG to China using the Northern Sea Route through thawing Arctic ice, cutting the journey time by half.

Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki