Gazprom abandons yard tour

A tour of shipbuilders keen to build the LNG carriers required for Russia’s massive Shtokman project has been abandoned midway through. Factional infighting was blamed for the abrupt end to visits to yards.

Staff from UK-based Gazprom Global LNG (GGL) and technical consultant Wavespec returned home from a planned tour of yards in Japan and South Korea without even making it on to the Korean leg of the tour.

Five shipbuilders had been pre-qualified for the business. South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries submitted technical proposals in July for up to six LNG carriers for the Shtokman project.

However, the bid team is understood to have only visited Mitsubishi and Kawasaki. The clarification meetings, which were seen as a forerunner to a formal tender, were originally due to continue until 10 September.

Sources explain that a battle between the different factions within Gazprom is behind the suspension of talks on the Shtokman LNG-carrier newbuildings. They detail that GGL is tackling the vessel requirement for the project in a traditional way by assessing what yards can offer and lining up owners who would be interested to contract the vessels and charter them long-term to the project.

But other factions within Gazprom are understood to be keen to see Russian shipyards take a larger part of the action. They are said to want to pursue the newbuildings through Gazflot, the drilling subsidiary of Gazprom. Gazflot is currently building rigs in co-operation with Samsung.

Critics expressed concern that these would be complex vessels for Russian yards to cut their teeth on as they will need to be ice class and particularly robust ships capable of operating in the harsh Arctic waters of the Barents Sea, where the project is based. In addition, a new dry dock would be required to handle the work, which could not be completed until 2014 at the earliest.