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Samsung Heavy Industries has announced that it has agreed to build three arctic oil tankers for Gazprom Neft, according to Reuters.
The order is worth $444mn and the tankers are expected to be completed by April 2017.
The tankers will be bought by Gazprom Neft’s Austria-based subsidiary Gazprom Neft Trading, one of the sources told Reuters.
“The purchaser is a trading subsidiary of Gazprom Neft based in Vienna,” he said. Two other sources said that tankers were to be supplied for Gazprom Neft’s subsidiary.
Sanctions against Russia as a result of the Ukraine conflict have restrictedRussia’s oil and gas exploration activity. Although the help from the South Korean company would facilitate development of the oilfield, it indicates Russia is struggling to comply with an appeal by President Vladimir Putin to reduce reliance on imported technology.
Tankers are needed for supplies from Gazprom Neft’s Novoportovskoye field, located in Russia’s Arctic.
The Novoportovskoye field has recoverable reserves of more than 250 million tonnes of oil and gas condensate and 320 billion cubic meters of gas.
