DSME cancels first Sovcomflot LNG carrier

In a stock exchange filing last week, DSME revealed it cancelled the LNG carrier order. The ice-class LNG carrier was tied to a long-term charter to Novatek, operator of the large Arctic LNG 2 project in northern Siberia. Designed by Zvezda with technology partner Samsung Heavy Industries, the 300-m vessel was expected to have a 172,600-m³ capacity tank using GTT’s Mark III membrane technology.

The ship in question is one of three LNG carriers ordered at DSME due to be delivered in February, April and July 2023. Sovcomflot’s LNG orderbook is made up mainly of ARC7 vessels ordered at the Rosneft-led Zvezda shipyard in Russia and three vessels at South Korean yard Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries due to go on charter to oil major TotalEnergies.

But now the Russian state-owned firm has come under pressure after the EU and the United States imposed debt and equity sanctions on the company following the Russian war in Ukraine.

To reduce its debt, Sovcomflot has been forced into a fire sale and has sold over a dozen ships ahead of an EU deadline for sanctions. The Wall Street Journal reported the operator sold five tankers to Dubai-based Koban Shipping and four LNG carriers to Singapore’s Eastern Pacific Shipping.