development of maritime transport for the transportation of liquefied natural gas

Maritime transportation of liquefied natural gas has always been only a small part of the entire natural gas industry, which requires big investments in the development of gas fields, liquefaction plants, cargo terminals and storage facilities. Once the first liquefied natural gas carriers were built and proved to be sufficiently reliable, changes in their design and the resulting risks were undesirable for both buyers and sellers, who were the main actors of the consortiums.

Shipbuilders and shipowners also showed little activity. The number of shipyards building to transport liquefied natural gas is small, although recently Spain and China have announced their intentions to start construction.

However, the situation in the liquefied natural gas market has changed and continues to change very quickly. There were many who wanted to try themselves in this business.

In the early 1950s, advances in technology made it possible to ship liquefied natural gas over long distances. The first vessel for the transportation of liquefied natural gas was a converted dry cargo ship " Marlin Hitch”, built in 1945, in which aluminum tanks stood freely with external thermal insulation made of balsa. has been renamed to Methane Pioneer"and in 1959 made its first flight with 5000 cubic meters. meters of cargo from the US to the UK. Despite the fact that the water that penetrated the hold wetted the balsa, the ship worked for quite a long time until it was used as a floating storage.

the world's first gas carrier "Methane Pioneer"

In 1969, the first dedicated liquefied natural gas vessel was built in the UK to operate voyages from Algeria to England, which was called " Methane Princess». gas carrier had aluminum tanks, a steam turbine, in the boilers of which it was possible to utilize the boiled-off methane.

gas carrier "Methane Princess"

Technical data of the world's first gas carrier "Methane Princess":
Built in 1964 at the shipyard " Vickers Armstong Shipbuilders» for the operating company « Shell Tankers U.K.»;
Length - 189 m;
Width - 25 m;
The power plant is a steam turbine with a capacity of 13750 hp;
Speed ​​- 17.5 knots;
Cargo capacity - 34500 cubic meters. m of methane;

Dimensions gas carriers have changed little since then. In the first 10 years commercial activities, they increased from 27,500 to 125,000 cubic meters. m and subsequently increased to 216,000 cubic meters. m. Initially, the flared gas cost the shipowners free of charge, since due to the lack of a gas turbine unit, it had to be thrown into the atmosphere, and the buyer was one of the parties to the consortium. Delivering as much gas as possible was not the main goal, as it is today. Modern contracts include the cost of flared gas, and this falls on the shoulders of the buyer. For this reason, the use of gas as a fuel or its liquefaction have become the main reasons for new ideas in shipbuilding.

construction of cargo tanks of gas carriers

gas carrier

First court for transportation of liquefied natural gas had cargo tanks of the Conch type, but they were not widely used. A total of six ships were built with this system. It was based on prismatic self-supporting tanks made of aluminum with balsa insulation, which was later replaced with polyurethane foam. In the construction of large vessels up to 165,000 cubic meters. m, they wanted to make cargo tanks from nickel steel, but these developments never materialized, as cheaper projects were proposed.

The first membrane tanks (tanks) were built on two gas carrier ships in 1969. One was made of 0.5 mm thick steel and the other was made of 1.2 mm thick corrugated stainless steel. Perlite and PVC blocks for stainless steel were used as insulating material. Further development in the process changed the design of the tanks. The insulation has been replaced with balsa and plywood panels. The second stainless steel membrane was also missing. The role of the second barrier was played by triplex from aluminum foil, which was covered with glass on both sides for strength.

But the MOSS type tanks gained the most popularity. The spherical tanks of this system were borrowed from ships carrying oil gases and very quickly became widespread. The reasons for this popularity are self-supporting cheap insulation and construction separate from the vessel.

The disadvantage of a spherical tank is the need to cool a large mass of aluminum. Norwegian company Moss Maritime» The developer of MOSS tanks has suggested replacing the internal insulation of the tank with polyurethane foam, but this has not yet been implemented.

Until the late 1990s, the "MOSS" design was dominant in the construction of cargo tanks, but in last years, due to price changes, almost two-thirds of the ordered gas carriers have membrane tanks.

Membrane tanks are built only after launching. This is a rather expensive technology, and also takes a rather long construction time of 1.5 years.

Since the main tasks of shipbuilding today are to increase cargo capacity with unchanged hull dimensions and reduce the cost of insulation, at present, three main types of cargo tanks are used for ships carrying liquefied natural gas: the spherical type of the MOSS tank, the membrane type of the Gas Transport No. 96” and a membrane tank of the Tekhnigaz Mark III system. The "CS-1" system, which is a combination of the above membrane systems, has been developed and is being implemented.

MOSS type spherical tanks

Membrane tanks of the Technigaz Mark III type on the LNG Lokoja gas carrier

The design of tanks depends on the calculated maximum pressure and minimum temperature. built-in tanks- are a structural part of the ship's hull and experience the same loads as the hull gas carrier.

Membrane tanks- non-self-supporting, consisting of a thin membrane (0.5-1.2 mm) supported through an insulation fitted to the inner casing. Thermal loads are compensated by the quality of the membrane metal (nickel, aluminum alloys).

transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG)

Natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbons, which, after liquefaction, forms a clear, colorless and odorless liquid. Such LNG is typically transported and stored at a temperature close to its boiling point of about -160C°.

In reality, the composition of LNG is different and depends on the source of its origin and the process of liquefaction, but the main component is of course methane. Other constituents may be ethane, propane, butane, pentane and possibly a small percentage of nitrogen.

For engineering calculations, of course, are taken physical properties methane, but for transmission, when an accurate calculation of the thermal value and density is required, the real composite composition of LNG is taken into account.

During sea ​​passage, heat is transferred to the LNG through the insulation of the tank, causing some of the cargo to evaporate, known as boil-off. The composition of LNG changes as it boils away, as the lighter, lower boiling components evaporate first. Therefore, the unloaded LNG has a higher density than the one that was loaded, a lower percentage of methane and nitrogen, but a higher percentage of ethane, propane, butane and pentane.

The flammability limit of methane in air is approximately 5 to 14 percent by volume. To reduce this limit, the tanks are vented with nitrogen to an oxygen content of 2 percent before starting loading. In theory, an explosion will not occur if the oxygen content of the mixture is below 13 percent relative to the percentage of methane. Boiled LNG vapor is lighter than air at -110°C and depends on the LNG composition. In this regard, the steam will rush up above the mast and quickly dissipate. When cold vapor is mixed with ambient air, the vapor/air mixture will be clearly visible as a white cloud due to moisture condensation in the air. It is generally accepted that the flammable limit of the vapour/air mixture does not extend too far beyond this white cloud.

filling cargo tanks with natural gas

gas processing terminal

Before loading, the inert gas is replaced with methane, because when cooled, carbon dioxide, which is part of the inert gas, freezes at a temperature of -60 ° C and forms a white powder that clogs nozzles, valves and filters.

During purge, the inert gas is replaced by warm methane gas. This is done in order to remove all freezing gases and complete the drying process of the tanks.

LNG is supplied from shore through a liquid manifold, where it enters the stripping line. After that, it is fed to the LNG evaporator and gaseous methane at a temperature of +20C° enters through the steam line to the top of the cargo tanks.

When 5 percent of the methane is determined at the mast inlet, the exit gas is sent through compressors to the shore or to the boilers through the gas flaring line.

The operation is considered completed when the methane content, measured at the top of the cargo line, exceeds 80 percent of the volume. After filling with methane, the cargo tanks are cooled down.

The cooling operation starts immediately after the methane filling operation. To do this, it uses LNG supplied from the shore.

Liquid flows through the cargo manifold to the spray line and then to the cargo tanks. As soon as the cooling of the tanks is completed, the liquid is switched to the cargo line for its cooling. The cooling of the tanks is considered complete when the average temperature, except for the two upper sensors, of each tank reaches -130°C or lower.

When this temperature is reached and there is a liquid level in the tank, loading starts. Steam generated during cooling is returned to shore by compressors or by gravity through a steam manifold.

shipment of gas carriers

Before starting the cargo pump, all unloading columns are filled with liquefied natural gas. This is achieved with a stripping pump. The purpose of this filling is to avoid water hammer. Then, according to the manual for cargo operations, the sequence of starting the pumps and the sequence of unloading the tanks is carried out. When unloading, enough pressure is maintained in the tanks to avoid cavitation and to have good suction on the cargo pumps. This is achieved by supplying steam from the shore. If it is not possible to supply steam to the ship from the shore, it is necessary to start the ship's LNG vaporizer. Unloading is stopped at pre-calculated levels, taking into account the balance required to cool the tanks before arriving at the port of loading.

After the cargo pumps stop, the unloading line is drained, and the steam supply from the shore is stopped. The shore stander is purged with nitrogen.

Before leaving, the steam line is purged with nitrogen to a methane content of no more than 1 percent by volume.

gas carrier protection system

Before commissioning gas carrier vessel, after docking or a long stay, the cargo tanks are drained. This is done in order to avoid the formation of ice during cooling, as well as to avoid the formation of corrosive substances in case moisture combines with some components of the inert gas, such as sulfur and nitrogen oxides.

gas carrier tank

The tanks are dried with dry air, which is produced by an inert gas installation without a fuel combustion process. This operation takes about 24 hours to reduce the dew point to -20C. This temperature will help to avoid the formation of aggressive agents.

modern tanks gas carriers designed to minimize the risk of cargo sloshing. Marine tanks are designed to limit the impact force of the liquid. They also have a significant margin of safety. However, the crew is always aware of the potential risk of splashing cargo and possible damage to the tank and equipment in it.

To avoid cargo sloshing, the lower liquid level is maintained no more than 10 percent of the tank length, and the upper level is not less than 70 percent of the tank height.

The next measure to limit the sloshing of the load is to limit the movement gas carrier(rocking) and those conditions that generate sloshing. The sloshing amplitude depends on the state of the sea, the roll and the speed of the ship.

further development of gas carriers

LNG tanker under construction

shipbuilding company Kvaerner Masa Yards» started production gas carriers type "Moss", which significantly improved economic indicators and have become almost 25 percent more economical. New Generation gas carriers allows you to increase the cargo space with the help of spherical expanded tanks, not to burn the evaporated gas, but to liquefy it with the help of a compact gas turbine unit and significantly save fuel using a diesel-electric plant.

The principle of operation of the HPSG is as follows: methane is compressed by a compressor and sent directly to the so-called "cold box", in which the gas is cooled using a closed refrigeration loop (Brayton cycle). Nitrogen is the working coolant. The cargo cycle consists of a compressor, a cryogenic plate heat exchanger, a liquid separator and a methane return pump.

Evaporated methane is removed from the tank by an ordinary centrifugal compressor. The methane vapor is compressed to 4.5 bar and cooled at this pressure to approximately -160°C in a cryogenic heat exchanger.

This process condenses hydrocarbons into a liquid state. The nitrogen fraction present in the vapor cannot be condensed under these conditions and remains in the form of gas bubbles in liquid methane. The next phase of separation takes place in the liquid separator, from where the liquid methane is discharged into the tank. At this time, gaseous nitrogen and partially hydrocarbon vapors are discharged into the atmosphere or burned.

Cryogenic temperature is created inside the "cold box" by the method of cyclic compression - expansion of nitrogen. Nitrogen gas at 13.5 bar is compressed to 57 bar in a three-stage centrifugal compressor and is water-cooled after each stage.

After the last cooler, nitrogen goes to the "warm" section of the cryogenic heat exchanger, where it is cooled to -110C°, and then expanded to a pressure of 14.4 bar in the fourth stage of the compressor - expander.

The gas leaves the expander at a temperature of about -163°C and then enters the "cold" part of the heat exchanger, where it cools and liquefies the methane vapor. The nitrogen then passes through the "warm" part of the heat exchanger before being sucked into the three-stage compressor.

The Nitrogen Compressor-Expansion Unit is a four-stage integrated centrifugal compressor with one expansion stage and contributes to a compact plant, reduced cost, improved cooling control and reduced energy consumption.

So if someone wants to gas carrier leave your resume and as they say: " Seven feet under the keel».

Gas tanker "Christophe de Margerie", filled with a test volume of liquefied natural gas, arrived for the first time in the port of Sabetta (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug) along the northern sea route.

The ice-breaking and maneuverability of the first and so far the only gas carrier for the Yamal LNG plant was fully confirmed by ice tests that took place from February 19 to March 8 in the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea, the icebreaking gas carrier managed to exceed many design indicators. "Christophe de Margerie" proved the ability to move stern forward in ice 1.5 meters thick at a speed of 7.2 knots (target - 5 knots) and bow at a speed of 2.5 knots (target - 2 knots). In the coastal area west of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago "Christophe de Margerie" successfully overcame a hummock with a height of 4.5 m above the ice, keel depth 12-15 m, cross-sectional area 650 m² .

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In the port of Sabetta, it completes its first voyage along the western part of the Northern Sea Route. In Sabetta, the crew of the tanker and port workers will work out the procedure for entering the port and mooring. In difficult ice conditions and a small port area, this is not easy, because the length of the gas carrier is 300 meters.

Unique icebreaking LNG carrier "Christophe de Margerie"(Christophe de Margerie) ice class Arc7 is the first of fifteen Sovcomflot LNG carriers* for the Yamal LNG project. It is capable of operating at temperatures up to minus 52 degrees, mThe power of the propulsion plant of the gas carrier is 45 MW. It includes rudder propellers of the Azipod type. They provide high ice-breaking and maneuverability and allow using the stern-forward movement principle, which is necessary to overcome hummocks and heavy ice fields. At the same time, Christophe de Margerie** became the first Arctic ice-class vessel in the world to have three Azipods installed at once.

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The crew is 29 people and is fully staffed by Russian sailors.The regular officer staff of the gas carrier includes 13 people, each of which has extensive experience in Arctic shipping and additionally received specialized training at the Sovcomflot Training and Simulator Center in St. Petersburg.

Representatives of the shipyard (Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering), key equipment suppliers (primarily ABB, the manufacturer of Azipods), leading specialized research and design organizations, both Russian (Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Krylov SSC ), and international (Aker Arctic Research Centre, Hamburg Ship Model Basin).

During the first call at the port of Sabetta, the gas carrier also successfully carried out a test passage through a specially created sea channel - the most difficult section of the Ob Bay in terms of navigation. The canal was laid in order to overcome the bar (sandy underwater shallows) by large-tonnage vessels at the confluence of the Ob into the Kara Sea. The engineering structure, unique for the Arctic Basin, is planned to be operated in difficult conditions constant ice drift. The channel has a depth of 15 m, a width of 295 m, and a length of 50 km.

The tanker was built taking into account all the requirements of the Polar Code and is distinguished by high environmental safety. Along with conventional fuels, the ship's propulsion system can use boil-off liquefied natural gas. Compared to traditional heavy fuel, the use of LNG can significantly reduce emissions of harmful gases into the atmosphere: by 90% sulfur oxides (SOx), 80% nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 15% carbon dioxide (CO2).

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For further berthing, the tanker will be moved to a technological berth designed to carry out cargo operations for loading tankers with liquefied natural gas obtained at the plant for its processing.

about the project

The Yamal LNG project is being implemented on the Yamal Peninsula beyond the Arctic Circle on the basis of the Yuzhno-Tambeyskoye field. The Project operator is OAO Yamal LNG, a joint venture between OAO NOVATEK (50.1%), the TOTAL concern (20%), the China National Oil and Gas Corporation (20%) and the Silk Road Fund (9.9%).

The construction of the natural gas liquefaction plant is carried out in three stages with the launch in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. The project provides for the annual production of about 16.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and up to 1.2 million tons of gas condensate with delivery to the markets of the Asia-Pacific region and Europe.

The cost of the project is estimated at $27 billion. Almost the entire volume has been contracted - 96% of the future volume of LNG.The logistics infrastructure of the Yamal LNG project is fully completed. Two checkpoints have been fully operational - the sea one at the port of Sabetta and the air one at the airport of Sabetta.

resource base

The resource base for the implementation of the Yamal LNG Project is the Yuzhno-Tambeyskoye field, discovered in 1974 and located in the northeast of the Yamal Peninsula. The license for the development of the Yuzhno-Tambeyskoye field is valid until December 31, 2045 and belongs to OAO Yamal LNG.

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A complex of exploration works was carried out at the field, including seismic surveys of CDP 2D, 3D, drilling of prospecting and appraisal and exploration wells, creation of geological and hydrodynamic models of the field. Based on the results of geological and hydrodynamic modeling, an assessment of gas and gas condensate reserves was made, which was approved by the State Commission for Mineral Reserves and confirmed by an international auditor.

The proven and probable reserves of the Yuzhno-Tambeyskoye field according to PRMS standards as of December 31, 2014 amount to 926 bcm of gas. The potential level of gas production to meet the needs of the LNG plant exceeds 27 bcm per year.

In addition, Gazprom carried out comprehensive 3D exploration and seismic work at the Tambey group of fields over an area of ​​2,650 km² , 14 exploration wells were drilled, and the increase in reserves amounted to 4.1 trillion m³ gas. Thus, reserves of the Tambey cluster amount to 6.7 trillion m³ .

A number of deposits of the Tambey group contain the so-called wet gas, which is characterized by a high content of ethane, and the deep processing of wet gas components will undoubtedly increase economic efficiency development of all reserves of the Tambey group.

Gazprom is ready to consider the possibility of creating joint ventures. First of all, they will focus on Russian companies who already have competencies in the field of gas liquefaction, who have experience in working with wet gas reserves. Most likely, they will cooperate with PAO NOVATEK, which recently signed a framework agreement with TechnipFMC, Linde AG and JSC Scientific Research and Design Institute for Gas Processing (NIPIGAZ).

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The document establishes the main conditions for cooperation in the design and further implementation of projects for LNG plants on a concrete gravity base as part of Arctic LNG-2, as well as subsequent LNG projects by NOVATEK.

NOVATEK also signed a license agreement with Linde AG to acquire a license for natural gas liquefaction technology for the Arctic LNG-2 project.

Thus, Russian enterprise received unique competencies in the implementation of the Yamal LNG project, which will optimize the choice of a new technological concept for future LNG projects. The signed agreements pave the way for decision-making on the next Arctic LNG projects and are aimed at significantly improving their economy, which will ensure the competitiveness of their products in any world market.

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ARKTIKA drilling rigs were designed and manufactured especially for the project. The rigs are designed to operate in the difficult natural and climatic conditions of Yamal, they are completely protected from the winds, which ensures comfortable working conditions for personnel and continuity of drilling regardless of weather conditions.

LNG plant

An LNG plant with a capacity of about 16.5 million tons of LNG is being built directly at the Yuzhno-Tambeyskoye field on the coast of the Gulf of Ob.
The construction uses a modular installation principle, which significantly reduces construction costs in the Arctic and optimizes the project schedule. The production complex will include three gas liquefaction process lines with a capacity of 5.5 million tons per year each. The first phase is planned to be launched in 2017.

Under conditions of low average annual temperatures in the Arctic, less specific energy is required to liquefy gas, which makes it possible to achieve higher volumes of LNG production compared to projects located in southern latitudes and using similar equipment.

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After the launch of the plant, the hydrocarbon mixture from the wells will be supplied through gas gathering networks to a single integrated complex for the preparation and liquefaction of natural gas. At the entrance facilities of the complex, separation will take place - separation of mechanical impurities, water, methanol and condensate from the gas. The inlet facilities include methanol regeneration and condensate stabilization units.

The separated gas will be fed to the liquefaction process lines and will be sequentially cleaned from acid gases and traces of methanol, drying and removing mercury, extracting fractions of ethane, propane and heavier hydrocarbons. Further, the purified gas will be supplied for pre-cooling and liquefaction. LNG will be stored in special isothermal closed-type tanks; it is planned to build four tanks with a capacity of 160,000 m³ each.

The integrated complex will also include LPG fractionation units, stable condensate and refrigerant storage parks, a 376 MW power plant, plant engineering systems and flares.

Sabetta settlement

The village of Sabetta, located on the eastern coast of the Yamal Peninsula, is a stronghold for the Yamal LNG Project. In the 80s of the 20th century, the Tambey expedition of exploratory drilling for oil and gas was located in Sabetta.

During the implementation of the Yamal LNG Project, a modern infrastructure was created in the village for the construction workers to live, auxiliary facilities of the life support complex were built: a fuel storage warehouse, a boiler room, canteens, a first-aid post, a bathhouse, a sports complex, an administrative and amenity complex, a hotel, sewerage and water treatment facilities, warehouses food storage. Additional canteen, laundry, fire station, heated parking lot, additional housing are being built. The peak number of workers at the construction stage of the Project is 15,000 people.

The multifunctional port of Sabetta is being built as part of the Yamal LNG Project on the principles of public-private partnership. The federal property (customer of the construction of FSUE “Rosmorport”) will be ice protection structures, operational water area, approach channels, vessel traffic control and navigation support systems, marine services buildings. Yamal LNG facilities include technological berths for transshipment of liquefied natural gas and gas condensate, ro-ro cargo berths, construction cargo berths, port fleet berths, storage facilities, administrative and economic zone, network engineering and communications.

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The boundaries of the seaport in the area of ​​the village of Sabetta were established by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 242-r of February 26, 2013. By the Decree of the Federal Agency for Sea and River Transport of the Russian Federation of July 25, 2014 No. KS-286-r, the seaport of Sabetta was included in the register of Russian seaports.

The port is being built in two stages - preparatory and main. The preparatory stage is the construction of a cargo port for the acceptance of construction cargo and technological modules of the LNG plant. Currently the port is open all year round, accepts technological and construction cargoes.
The main stage of the port construction includes technological berths for the shipment of LNG and gas condensate. The readiness of the port to accept LNG tankers will be ensured in 2017.In the first quarter of 2017, the seaport registered 17 international ship calls along the Northern Sea Route, despite the fact that the beginning of the year is considered the most difficult in terms of ice conditions.

In the tundra in the north beyond the Arctic Circle, a modern airport has been built that meets all international standards. In the first quarter of 2017, 16 international air flights from Belgium, China, Scotland and South Korea. For comparison, for the whole of 2016, only 11 international flights were issued. In early March, Russia's northernmost airport, Sabetta, on the coast of the Kara Sea, for the first time received the largest An-124 Ruslan aircraft loaded with cargo from China, delivering components for the construction of a giant Yamal-LNG gas liquefaction plant, weighing 67 .67 tons.

The airport complex includes an ICAO category I airfield, a 2704 m x 46 m runway, hangars for aircraft, a service and passenger building, including the international sector. The airport can receive aircraft of various types IL-76, A-320, Boeing-737-300, 600, 700, 800, Boeing-767-200, as well as MI-26, MI-8 helicopters. The airport operator is 100% affiliated undertaking Yamal LNG OJSC - Sabetta International Airport LLC.

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* Sovcomflot has been working as part of the first subarctic project on the Sakhalin shelf "Sakhalin-1" since 2006. In 2008, the company began shipping crude oil as part of the Varandey Arctic project, which is currently served by three SCF shuttle tankers - Vasily Dinkov, Kapitan Gotsky, and Timofey Guzhenko. As of March 1, 2017, they safely transported over 51 million tons of Varandey oil. In 2010-2011, after a thorough study of the issue with the enterprises of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, Atomflot and interested charterers, Sovcomflot organized experimental cargo voyages of tankers SCF Baltika (117.1 thousand tons deadweight) and Vladimir Tikhonov (deadweight - 162.4 thousand tons) by high-latitude routes. Between 2010 and 2014, Sovcomflot ships made 16 high-latitude voyages, thanks to which the possibility of commercial use of the Northern Sea Route in summer navigation was proved and a new deep-water route north of the New Siberian Islands was mastered.

In 2014, Sovcomflot began transporting crude oil from the Prirazlomnoye field (Pechora Sea), for which St. Petersburg's Admiralty Shipyards built two SCF Arctic shuttle tankers, Mikhail Ulyanov and Kirill Lavrov. At the end of March this year, they transported 4 million tons of Arctic oil.

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At the end of autumn 2016, Sovcomflot started shipping oil from the Novoportovskoye oil and gas condensate field. For its service, a series of unique Arctic shuttle tankers was specially designed and built - "Shturman Albanov", "Shturman Malygin", "Shturman Ovtsyn" of high ice class Arc7, which allows to overcome ice up to 1.8 meters thick. The tankers are equipped with a powerful propulsion system consisting of two Azipod propellers with a total capacity of 22 MW. By March 2017, tankers had transported 1.3 million tons of Novoportovskaya oil.

** The unique icebreaking LNG carrier Christophe de Margerie of the Arc7 ice class built for the Yamal LNG project (Kara Sea) has joined the SCF fleet. This is the first gas carrier of the Yamalmax class, which has no analogues in the world. The ship was built at the Daewoo Shipbuilding Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard (South Korea).It was launched in October 2016.tanker naming ceremony ice class "Christophe de Margerie", named after the deceased head of the French company Total, will be held in June in St.Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne.The estimated cost of the gas carrier is about $290 million.

The peculiarity of this vessel is its Arc7 ice class, the use of 3 Azipod-type RTOs, as well as the use of the so-called DAS concept (Aker Arctic Technologies Inc.), according to which the vessel can move bow forward along open water and stern forward in ice conditions, thereby moving in ice without the help of icebreakers. The vessel has two full-fledged pilothouses - for stern and bow movement.

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Both navigation bridges equipped with TRANSAS MFD navigation system, consisting of 12 multifunctional workstations with a full set of basic applications, including a mapping navigation information system ECDIS, radar station Navi-Radar 4000, the Navi-Conning 4000 navigation information display system, the BAMS alarm and alarm tracking system, and the Navi-Planner 4000 route planning station, which allows, with minimal participation of the navigator, to navigate the vessel along a pre-selected route.

The equipment of the vessel is made in full compliance with the requirements of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RMRS) and the international classification society BV. All equipment is designed and tested for year-round operation in harsh climatic conditions at temperatures down to -52°C.

The uniqueness of the equipment installed by Transas lies in the fact that all workstations located both in the bow and stern bridges are integrated into a single integrated system with the possibility of duplicating the main functions. operating activities vessels to improve the safety of navigation. This is especially important in the course of the effective implementation of the large-scale Yamal LNG project, for which the LNG carrier Christophe de Margerie is intended.

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Natural gas reserves in the world are huge, but most of the deposits are located in hard-to-reach places, remote from industrial areas. This is not so bad - a pipeline can be laid on land or on the seabed. And for transportation across the ocean, the gas is converted into a liquid state. At the same time, the volume is reduced by almost six hundred times, which makes it possible to use not only pipelines, but also LNG tankers of a special design for gas transportation.

LPG tankers

LNG is natural gas cooled to -162°C, at which it changes from a gaseous state to a liquid state.

Most of the world's exports of liquefied gas are carried out on the intercontinental market by tankers of two types, abbreviated as CIS - liquefied petroleum gas and LNG - liquefied natural gas. Specialized vessels differ in tank design and are designed for different cargoes: LPG tankers transport liquefied propane, butane, propylene and other hydrocarbon gases, LNG tankers carry methane. Sometimes these tankers are called methane carriers. The photo below shows a sectional view of the tanker.

LNG tanker layout

The main building blocks of an LPG tanker are propulsion and pumping units, a double hull for added strength, bow thrusters, LPG tanks and powerful refrigeration units to keep the gas temperature low.

As a rule, from four to six isolated tanks are placed in the hull of the vessel, located along the center line of the vessel. The environment of the tanks is a combination of ballast tanks, cofferdams - special compartments to prevent gas leaks from tanks and voids. This placement gives the LNG carrier a double hull type structure.

Liquefied gases are transported in tanks under a pressure that is higher than atmospheric pressure, or at a temperature significantly below the temperature environment. Some tank designs use both methods.

The tankers are equipped with pressure tanks of 17.5 kg/cm 2 . The gas is transported in cylindrical or spherical steel tanks with appropriate storage temperature. All tankers are built with a double bottom.

Gas carriers are equipped with powerful engines and are characterized by high speed. The area of ​​their rational use is long-distance, mainly transcontinental, voyages with a length of more than 3,000 nautical miles. Given the active evaporation of methane, the vessel must overcome this distance at high speeds.

Tank design features

For the safe transportation of liquefied natural gas, it is necessary to maintain temperatures in tanks below -162 ° C and high pressure. Tankers are equipped with membrane tanks with high-vacuum multilayer insulation. Membrane tanks consist of a primary barrier metal layer, an insulating layer, a liquid protective layer and a second insulating layer. The design of the tanks and the thickness of the metal hull of the tanks depend on the design operating pressure, temperature and displacement of the tanker. Under pressure sea ​​water the walls of the tank, being part of the vessel, experience the same loads as the hull of the ship.

LPG is also transported in spherical metal tanks well insulated to avoid leakage under high pressure.

The IGC code defines three types of independent tanks used for gas transportation: A, B and C. LNG tankers are equipped with B or C category tanks, LPG tankers have category A tanks.

Tanker loading and unloading operations

The most dangerous are the operations of loading and unloading tankers. Liquefied natural gas is a cryogenic substance, the main component of which is methane. If it enters an unprepared cargo compartment with non-compliance with the temperature regime, the mixture of methane with air becomes explosive.

Tanker loading procedures are strictly regulated. The cargo tank is dried with an inert gas at a certain temperature to prevent condensation of moist air inside the tank.

After drying the tanks, the hold is purged to remove inert gas residues, after which dry heated air is supplied to the hold under pressure.

Direct injection of liquefied gas is preceded by filling the tank with inert gas to remove air and cool the tanks. The insulating space of membrane tanks is purged with liquid nitrogen. Loading is started when the gas supply system and the tank are cooled down to a temperature close to that of the LNG.

At the port of destination, liquefied natural gas is transferred to the shore tank by means of a submersible cargo pump installed at the bottom of each cargo tank. During unloading, the requirements for the temperature and humidity conditions of all lines are also observed in order to avoid the formation of an explosive mixture of methane with air.

Environmental Safety

Strict safety standards are set by the International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Liquefied Gases in Bulk (IGC Code). International regulations cover almost all aspects of the safety of these vessels, as well as crew training standards.

The LNG safety record on ships has an enviable history. Since 1959, when LNG began to be transported commercially, there has never been a single LNG-related death on board. Eight maritime incidents related to the accidental spill of liquefied natural gas have occurred around the world.

In June 1979, in the Strait of Gibraltar, the tanker "El Paso Kaiser" crashed into the rocks at a speed of 19 knots with a load of 99,500 m 3 . The ship sustained heavy bottom damage along the entire length of the cargo spaces, but membrane tanks were not damaged and no liquefied natural gas was spilled.

Navigating tankers through the straits

The straits are the most dangerous place for navigation, therefore, for the construction of terminals for the production and reception of liquefied gas, they choose places on the outskirts of the continents, avoiding difficult transport routes and tankers entering inland seas.

At one time, Ukraine announced its intention to build a terminal for receiving liquefied natural gas in the Odessa region in order to diversify the sources of gas supplies to the country. Ankara immediately reacted to this.

The constant transit of liquefied natural gas dangerous goods through the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus on LNG tankers can cause serious environmental damage. These straits are among the top most dangerous in the world: the Bosphorus is in third place, the Dardanelles is in fifth place. In the event of a major accident, the consequences for the Sea of ​​Marmara and densely populated Istanbul could be catastrophic.

International LNG Market

A fleet of specialized vessels links LNG production and regasification facilities around the world to create a safe, reliable and efficient network transportation of liquefied natural gas. Methane carriers are equipped modern technology leak detection, emergency shutdown systems, advanced radar and positioning systems, and other technologies designed to ensure the safe and reliable transport of gas.

Liquefied gas currently accounts for more than 35% international trade natural gas, while the demand for it is constantly growing.

Some statistics

Today, the liquefied natural gas industry worldwide includes:

• 25 LNG terminals and 89 LNG plants operate in 18 countries on five continents. Qatar is the world leader in LPG production, ahead of Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and Trinidad and Tobago.
• 93 receiving terminals and regasification plants in 26 countries on four continents. Japan, Korea and Spain are the leading LPG importers.
• Around 550 liquefied natural gas tankers are currently in operation worldwide.

Leader in the construction of LNG tankers

Historically, about two-thirds of the world's methane tanker fleet was built by the South Koreans, 22% by the Japanese, 7% by the Chinese, and the rest by France, Spain and the United States. South Korea's success is tied to innovation and price. South Korean builders built the first icebreaker-class methane tankers. They also built the largest LNG tankers of the Q-Flex and Q-Max class with a deadweight of 210,000 and 260,000 cubic meters for the Qatari gas transportation company Nakilat. Distinctive feature class Q vessels is the placement of a natural gas liquefaction plant directly on board a giant ship. The ship is 345 meters long and 53.8 meters wide.

Yamal LNG project

On September 29, 2014, a solemn ceremony was held to lay down a tanker ordered by the Russian shipping company Modern Commercial Fleet, which specializes in the transportation of energy carriers, to transport liquefied natural gas under the Yamal LNG project. These are unique vessels of the Arc7 ice class with the maximum possible dimensions for approaching the port of Sabetta on the Yamal Peninsula.

Designed to transport gas from the South Tambeyskoye field from the Arctic to Europe and Asia and navigate in the harsh climatic conditions of the Arctic, Yamal LNG tankers are double-acting vessels by design: bow for swimming in open water, and the stern - for navigation in difficult ice conditions.

Currently, five such vessels have been built. Lead ship Christophe de Margerie . Owned by Sovcomflot.

On its very first commercial voyage, an LNG tanker from Russia set a historical record: for the first time in the history of shipping, a merchant vessel passed the Northern Sea Route without an icebreaker escort.

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.

Transporting 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 prevents the dangerous goods from reacting with oxygen, while 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. Tanks are filled with cargo by 98 percent and set off on 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.

Gazprom's long-term development strategy involves the development of new markets and the diversification of activities. Therefore, one of the key tasks of the company today is to increase the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and its share in the LNG market.

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 of volcanic origin), it maintains the necessary temperature conditions 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.

"Black gold" is stored 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 18,000 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 150,000 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 the tanker is moored in the port of Prigorodnoy on the left side for LNG shipment, 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. The maximum speed of the Reka Ob gas carrier is 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 Let Pobedy, Rossiya, Vaygach and two ice pilots, delivered an LNG consignment owned by subsidiary"Gazprom" - "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 only given out 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 to repair, and also regularly conduct a technical inspection of each unit.

What needs more careful attention is sent to the 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 back in early childhood- every third family in his hometown in Croatia has 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, he will always find the opportunity to go 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 maps that mark the points of passage of the vessel and plot its upcoming 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 charts, on which the location of the tanker is marked every hour with a simple pencil and ruler, and the ship's log, 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 most in demand active recreation is enjoyed here – in the conditions high seas 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.