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Two new Aker Arctic-designed icebreakers, under construction at the PJSC Vyborg Shipyard in Russia, are to have their main power provided by Wärtsilä generating sets. The ships are being built for Gazprom Neft based in St.Petersburg, Russia. The contract was agreed between Wärtsilä and Ruselprom Group and was signed in October.

The new icebreakers are due to operate in arctic conditions with outside air temperatures of as low as minus 50 degrees centigrade and ice thicknesses up to 2 metres.

Because of these challenging operational considerations, reliability and overall efficiency were prime considerations in the award of this contract.

The full Wärtsilä scope of supply for each vessel includes two 16-cylinder and two 8-cylinder Wärtsilä 32 engines and one 6-cylinder Wärtsilä 20 engine. Deliveries to the yard will commence in summer 2016.

"Once again Wärtsilä has been chosen based on the company's experience and strong track record in supplying highly efficient and reliable solutions for icebreakers. These vessels operate in the toughest possible conditions and it is, therefore, important that the power generators selected are the best available," said Johan Hanstén, Area Sales Director, Wärtsilä.

"Wärtsilä is well known and respected in the Russian shipping industry and we are very pleased to cooperate with them in this important project. We see enormous potential in this partnership with Wärtsilä, a company with great experience that provides proven, reliable, and technologically advanced products and systems," commented Sviridov Maxim, Director, Marine Electric Mechanical Dept, Ruselprom Group.

"We have worked with Wärtsilä on various projects for many years, and we are very confident that they can provide the engineering support and quality products needed for these icebreakers," remarked Alexander Solovyev, General Director, PJSC Vyborg Shipyard.

"The novel Aker ARC 130 A concept design represents the latest developments in icebreaking technology, which Aker Arctic has now adapted also for Arctic vessels. The Wärtsilä gensets, together with the arctic package, provide remarkable energy savings in extreme operating conditions," said Mika Hovilainen, Project Manager, Aker Arctic Technology Inc.

When completed in 2017, the two icebreakers are due to operate from Novy Port, located at the mouth of the Ob River in arctic Russia. The offshore area features one of the largest fields of exploitable oil and gas condensates in the region. Recoverable reserves are expected to be more than 250 million tonnes of oil and condensate with more than 320 billion cubic metres of gas. The project is operated by Gazprom Neft Novy Port.

Gazprom Neft is a key player in the energy sector. It is the fourth largest oil producer in Russia and is ranked third according to refining throughput. The company's operations include exploration and production, refining, and the sale of oil and oil products.