Gazprom Neft and Sovcomflot to decarbonise shipping on Northern Sea Route

Gazprom Neft and Sovcomflot are to collaborate on improving efficiency in Russian-Arctic maritime logistics, focusing on deploying digital technologies and low-carbon-footprint marine fuels.

Sovcomflot vessels, responsible for ensuring continuous year-round shipments of Arctic crudes from the Prirazlomnoye and Novoportovskoye fields, are now connected to the world’s first Arctic logistics management system – the ‘Kapitan’ system, developed by Gazprom Neft. The digital navigation platform is claimed to have helped cut specific transportation costs by up to 12% by selecting optimum routes, saving fuel, reducing icebreaker escort costs and reducing empty-vessel downtime.

The companies will also look at decarbonising shipping transportation through the use of LNG, hydrogen, ammonia and methanol, testing the fuels on Sovcomflot’s existing tankers. Russia’s first LNG-bunkering vessel, the Gazprom Neft-owned Dmitry Mendeleev, is expected to be deployed in refuelling ships with natural gas.