Landmark crude oil loading from the Arctic Circle

The project’s fixed offshore ice-resistant off-loading terminal (FOIROT) is located beyond the Arctic Circle, in the Barents Sea, and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the northernmost oil terminal operating year-round.

Its launch in 2008 has allowed trans-shipping crude oil in the Arctic year-round for the first time in history.

The project’s success depends upon its effective logistics model, which involved designing and building a series of large-capacity tankers capable of operating in difficult ice conditions without icebreaking assistance, a unique feature for this period.

In 2011, Sovcomflot received a Russian Government award for science and technology, for the development and industrial commissioning of innovative solutions to establish a transport system for the Varandey project in the Arctic Ocean.

All three tankers operate under the Russian flag, sail with Russian crews, and have St. Petersburg as their port of registry.

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