Russian academics and gas industry specialists consider shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by underwater vehicles to be feasible and safer than its transportation by surface vessels, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a Forum of Future Technologies last week.
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Vladislav Antipov, an aide to the president of the Kurchatov Institute national research center, brought up prospects of underwater LNG carriers in his presentation.
"The Kurchatov Institute has developed cold-resistant steels used in manufacturing icebreaker hulls these days.
"In general, the scientific and technical groundwork that has been laid makes Russia the only global power having a nuclear icebreaker fleet. And this groundwork also provides opportunities for the future in terms of building Arctic underwater gas carriers," Antipov said.
Following up on the subject, Putin said Kurchatov Institute President Mikhail Kovalchuk had presented the idea to him "a couple of years ago."
"Gazprom and Novatek believe this is quite possible. And it's feasible, efficient, and safe. Huge containers with liquefied gas are quite dangerous, while everything is different under the water.
"Certainly, this is a matter of the future. And [the project] can well be implemented," he said.
The St. Petersburg-based Malakhit Marine Design Bureau, part of Kurchatov Institute, is developing a nuclear-powered underwater gas carrier as a new class of marine vessels to transport LNG from Russia's Arctic fields all year round.
Underwater transportation would be economically more feasible owing to considerably shorter distances that would have to be covered in high latitudes at higher speeds.
On top of that, underwater LNG shipments would be less costly by minimizing the necessity of icebreaker escort, which accounts for a significant portion of costs of shipments by surface vessels.
"An underwater gas carrier can serve as a basis for a unique underwater transport system having no analogues in the world for year-round shipments regardless of weather conditions and the state of the sea ice cover," in the view of Russian researchers. ■