Moscow – A Russian natural gas tanker has completed an experimental round trip on the North Sea Route: the first time the road through the Arctic was forged at this time of year. The journey by the oil tanker Christophe de Margerie through the ice is the last visual indicator of climate change in the delicate region.
The tanker, led by shipping company Sovcomflot, returned to the remote Russian gas terminal in Sabetta on February 19, bringing Russia closer to its year-round commercial shipping target through the warming of the Arctic.
The LNG (liquefied natural gas) tanker left the Chinese port of Jiangsu on January 27 after delivering its cargo. He entered the North Sea Route, which crosses the northern coast of Russia, a few days later near Cape Dezhnev, where he was found by the Russian nuclear icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy (50 years of victory). Together they completed the 2,500-nautical-mile voyage across the ice in 11 days and 10 hours.
The ship managed to complete the first stage of the trip from Russia to China without an icebreaker. Both trips broke winter sailing records due to climate change in the Arctic that allowed passage through thinner ice. The use of the North Sea Route allows shippers from Russia and other countries to avoid a longer southern journey through Europe, the Middle East, and all of South Asia, saving millions of dollars.
The deepest ice the ships found was about 5 feet thick. The boats found no accumulation of old ice for several years on the route, however, and meteorologist and journalist Eric Holthaus defined it as a clear indicator of “a climate emergency.”
Last May, the Christophe de Margerie became the first large-capacity cargo ship to complete eastbound traffic on the North Sea Route, two months ahead of the year it had been built. traditionally the journey.
Sovcomflot
“As a result of the first North Sea Route (NSR) voyage completed by Christophe de Margerie in May 2020, as well as the current NSR voyage, navigation in the eastern part of the Arctic virtually doubled. “said Sovcomflot CEO Igor Tonkovidov. earlier this month. He noted that for decades the transit route along this segment of the NSR had normally remained closed to ice from November to July.
“The Arctic is ours”
Novatek, the company that operates the LNG gas plant in Sabetta, plans to continue experimental trips east along the North Sea Route, with the next scheduled for this spring, according to Russian business newspaper Kommersant, which quoted the head of the company.
European University of St. Petersburg
Last year, Russia moved nearly 33 million tons of cargo along the North Sea Route, including more than 18 million tons of LNG. In the last five years alone, freight traffic along the NSR has multiplied by five.
“The route can do much more than that,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev said during a government meeting last week. He said that, according to a decree issued by President Vladimir Putin, cargo traffic along the NHS is expected to increase to 80 million tonnes a year by 2024.
“One way to achieve this goal is to extend the Arctic navigation period,” Trutnev said.
To help it achieve its lucrative Arctic ambitions, Russia has renewed its unique civilian fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers. Last year Russia unveiled the new flagship of this fleet, the Arcktika, is said to be the largest and most powerful in the world.
OLGA MALTSEVA / AFP / Getty
“Russia’s Arctic attracts many interested in its resources,” St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko said at the launch ceremony. “But the Arctic is ours and we’ve proven it.”
By the end of 2022 Russia plans to launch two more ships of the same series.
Environmentalists have expressed concern about the growing presence of nuclear energy in the already sensitive Arctic region. plagued by problems related to climate change.
According to some estimates, the Arctic has oil and gas reserves equivalent to 412 billion barrels of oil, about 22% of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas.