Russian Oil and Gas Industry: News #3

Fortuna has less than 50 kilometers to finish building Nord Stream 2

The Fortuna barge is slowly but confidently moving towards the finish line of the Nord Stream 2 construction. With the current speed and favorable weather, the vessel could complete the project by September.

Over the past three days, the Fortuna barge has laid 3,300 meters of the second string of Nord Stream 2 in the Danish economic zone in the Baltic Sea. In total, more than 36 kilometers were completed along it. A little more than 32 kilometers remain in Danish waters, and 16.5 kilometers in German waters.

At the current speed of 1,100 meters, "Fortuna" can meet until September. However, much depends on the weather. Now it is favorable and the ship is operating at high speeds for itself. It is served by nine supply vessels.

The German regulator has established that the construction of the site in Germany, which will be completed last, should be completed by October.

The pipelayer "Akademik Chersky", meanwhile, is still in the construction area, but is not laying it. Despite the modernization, the vessel was never able to lay more than 600 meters per day and was replaced by Fortuna after she completed the construction of the first string, which is now undergoing commissioning.

The average laying speed of the second string since the beginning of May is 550 meters.

In Europe, there is not enough gas to be pumped into storage facilities and prices are rising. At the same time, LNG suppliers, including those from the United States, are reducing supplies, as they redirect cargo to more profitable markets in Asia and South America. Gazprom, on the other hand, fulfills its contractual obligations and promises to satisfy additional applications after the launch of Nord Stream 2, one of which may be launched in the fall.

“Russia has decided not to book additional annual capacity through Ukraine and Poland, frightening the market, which already fears that the supply will decline,” Bloomberg reporter Stephen Stapzinski wrote on Twitter. He added that capacities were being sold at auctions since October 1, but this was enough for the market to react with an increase in prices. “Now more than ever, Europe’s chances of“ bypassing ”gas shortages in winter depend on the launch of“ Nord Stream 2, ”says Stephen Stapzinski.

https://k--politika-ru.translate.goog/fortune-ostalos-dostroit-menee-50-kilometrov-severnogo-potoka-2/?utm_source=finobzor.ru&_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB&_x_tr_pto=ajax,se,elem

The skirmish with Nord Stream 2 ended for Kiev with an unexpected blow from the south

Gennady Ryabtsev, director of special projects at the Ukrainian STC Psyche, spoke about the economic losses of Ukraine, which the country's authorities overlooked in an empty struggle with Nord Stream 2.

Ryabtsev, in an interview with local media reporters, said that while the Ukrainian side was broadcasting to the entire Western world about the dangers that SP-2 poses to the country's economy, Kiev missed a serious economic blow. We are talking about the Russian gas pipeline "Balkan Stream", which will start deliveries of fuel to Hungary on October 1, bypassing Nezalezhnaya.

"The loss of 25 billion cubic meters is evidenced by the corresponding contract, which was signed between Gazprom and Naftogaz. 65 billion cubic meters were indicated for the first year of transit, and 40 billion for the next. Why did the quantity decrease so much? Because Ukraine was bypassed," - said Ryabtsev.

He noted that the losses of the Ukrainian side in this regard have already exceeded those expected from the side of "SP-2". According to Ryabtsev, the Ukrainian route will now remain a reserve one, and will be used only in case of unforeseen circumstances. Gas pumping along the Ukrainian route will halve and stop at around 20-25 billion cubic meters per year.

It should be noted that the main curator of Kiev - Washington - did not care about the "Balkan Stream", because no measures were taken against it. In the fight against SP-2, the United States hoped to hinder the economic rapprochement between the FRG and Russia, and not to protect the interests of Ukraine, but this plan also failed. The construction of Nord Stream 2 was completed and the United States did not want to go on further escalation with the Russian Federation.

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A loss for Bulgaria, not Russia.

EU-tardia snookered itself big time with its anti-Russian posturing. It prevented Gazprom from allocating more than 50% of its
pipeline capacity to contracted sales. This was supposed to be some sort of anti-monopoly measure. I guess predicated on the
notion that EU-tard customers would find alternative sources. Now this stellar brilliance is coming to bite them in the anusz as
Gazprom is not offering sales volumes that they want. In fact, in the middle of the current heat wave driven price spike, the
volume of Russian gas shipped to EU-tardia is dropping by 2 billion cubic meters in July. Russia is simply choosing to use the 50%
capacity contract limit not the way the EU-tards want.

At the same time both US and Qatari LNG is headed to east Asia since the price per thousand cubic meters of natural gas (not
liquefied) is twice that in U-rope.

Good times, good times indeed.

Oil price is also close to 80$ again.

I´m wondering if Gazprom couldn´t sell the 50% free capacity to some "private" russian company? Or some innocent company registered in Cyprus?

"Akademik Chersky" found application in the "Nord Stream - 2"

The pipelayer, which was removed from the construction route due to slow work, will complete the section of the second string of the Baltic gas pipeline in the German shallow water from the German side and help the Fortuna barge complete the entire project faster.

In July, the idle Akademik Chersky pipelayer will return to the Nord Stream 2 completion line. According to the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV) in its warning to seafarers, from July 17, the vessel will lay the gas pipeline using anchor positioning in the shallow Adlergrund section in the German economic zone in the Baltic Sea.

The regulator indicates that the work will be carried out until August 15. According to the published coordinates, the section will be 2.6 kilometers long. In December last year, the barge "Fortuna" completed one line on it, but for unknown reasons did not lay the second one. The sea depth at the site does not exceed 22 meters.

The Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration warns that the buffer zone around the Russian pipelayer will be 1.25 miles. It will be controlled by two ships.

Thus, from mid-July, the completion of the last, second string of Nord Stream 2 will begin in four hands. The barge "Fortuna" will be laid from the side of Denmark, and the "Akademik Chersky" - from the side of Germany.

From February to June, the Fortuna barge completely completed the B line of Nord Stream 2 in Danish and German waters and stopped in the first decade of June instead of the more modern Akademik Chersky to complete the A line.

In May - September 2020, the pipelayer underwent modernization and retrofitting and, according to tender documents, was supposed to lay up to 2 kilometers per day. Having risen, however, on line A, Akademik Chersky completed the construction of an average of 600 meters per day and laid 17 kilometers of the gas pipeline in a month and a half.

Now the pipelayer is in the area of ​​work, but does not take part in them.

The barge "Fortuna", meanwhile, continues to complete the construction of the second string of the gas pipeline, and in Danish waters it remains to complete a little more than 28 kilometers. In German - 16.5 kilometers, 2.6 of which will be laid in July - August "Akademik Chersky". Judging by the speed of work, the construction of a gas pipeline from Russia to Germany may be completed by the end of August.

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Too bad none of these articles investigate the nature of the problem. If the specification was for 2 km/day, then that is not
some hot air but actual engineering. If it failed at 1/3 this rate, there must be explanations.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:899194/mmsi:273399760/imo:8770261/vessel:AKADEMIK_CHERSKIY

AKADEMIK CHERSKIY (IMO: 8770261) is a Pipe Layer that was built in 1970 (51 years ago)
and is sailing under the flag of Russia. It's carrying capacity is 11036 t DWT and her current
draught is reported to be 6.7 meters. Her length overall (LOA) is 150 meters and her width is
38.5 meters.

FORTUNA (IMO: 8674156) is a Pipelay Crane Vessel that was built in 2010 (11 years ago) and
is sailing under the flag of Russia. It's carrying capacity is 32219 t DWT and her current
draught is reported to be 7.9 meters. Her length overall (LOA) is 169.93 meters and her
width is 46 meters.

It seems to me that the Fortuna has the advantage of stability. It is heavier based on size and
also larger in horizontal dimensions. It is not just about being able to maneuver in the currents,
its also about resistance to wobbling on account of waves. The Fortuna will have less wobble.

I guess after this experience, Russia will consider an alternative to the Cherskiy. The Swiss layer
was massive and that is not an accident.

kvs wrote:Too bad none of these articles investigate the nature of the problem.   If the specification was for 2 km/day, then that is not
some hot air but actual engineering.   If it failed at 1/3 this rate, there must be explanations.  

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:899194/mmsi:273399760/imo:8770261/vessel:AKADEMIK_CHERSKIY

AKADEMIK CHERSKIY (IMO: 8770261) is a Pipe Layer that was built in 1970 (51 years ago)
and is sailing under the flag of Russia. It's carrying capacity is 11036 t DWT and her current
draught is reported to be 6.7 meters. Her length overall (LOA) is 150 meters and her width is
38.5 meters.

FORTUNA (IMO: 8674156) is a Pipelay Crane Vessel that was built in 2010 (11 years ago) and
is sailing under the flag of Russia. It's carrying capacity is 32219 t DWT and her current
draught is reported to be 7.9 meters. Her length overall (LOA) is 169.93 meters and her
width is 46 meters.

It seems to me that the Fortuna has the advantage of stability.   It is heavier based on size and
also larger in horizontal dimensions.   It is not just about being able to maneuver in the currents,
its also about resistance to wobbling on account of waves.    The Fortuna will have less wobble.

I guess after this experience, Russia will consider an alternative to the Cherskiy.    The Swiss layer
was massive and that is not an accident.

Specification and real-life speed are two different things

Stormy weather in the Baltics limits the average speed, as well as other factors

Storms affect both vessels. And it is an engineering problem and not a hand waving problem. The engineering includes
understanding the dynamics of a vessel under different wave conditions. The Fortuna has superior output for deterministic
reasons.

This is what the Stockholm Arbitration "Court" clown-assery gets the EU. Giving Banderastan a ludicrous ruling out charity makes these ingrate
losers want more. Now they are demanding "compensation". On what principle? The transit of Russian gas via its territory is a windfall and
not an entitlement. Russia chooses whether to transit this gas and Banderastan can only decide on whether to allow it. The idea that someone
owes it indefinite money because it wants this transit is mind numbingly absurd. Maybe I should get a salary because at one time I
was employed by someone. That's all it takes, right?

NOTE: Interesting read explaining some of the technical challenges.

Completion of Nord Stream 2: who will be responsible for the Akademik Chersky fiasco

Latest news from the construction of SP-2: July 17, KMTUS "Akademik Chersky" returns to the "A" branch. This was reported by the German Federal Administration for Waterways and Shipping. Its task: by 15 August to lay 2.6 km of pipe in the exceptional German economic zone in shallow water in the area of ​​the Adlergrund bank (there the depth is not more than 22 m). "Akademik Chersky" will move towards TUB "Fortuna", which is laying its part of the route in the exclusive Danish economic zone at depths of 60 to 63 meters. At the moment, Fortuna has 59 km to go (in this figure, both the Danish and German sections of the pipe). The latter is 14.4 km, of which 2.6 km is shallow water; Chersky will not be able to pull further 2.6 km, because it is more convenient to dock the two parts of the gas pipeline at shallow depths.

What follows from this? Putin is in a hurry, the blood from his nose must have time to lay the pipe before September 26, before the day of elections to the Bundestag. Now the weather in the Baltic has deteriorated somewhat. And although the temperature is kept in the region of 20 дожд, but with rains and thunderstorms, the wind speed is from 9 to 12 m / s, with gusts up to 16 m / s. With this wind, the laying speed decreases. The fact is that when the wind increases over 10 m / s for Chersky and over 8 m / s for Fortuna, they have to drop the pipe so as not to lead to an accident. The Swiss "Pioneering Spirit" could operate at a wind speed of 6 m / s, without dropping the pipe at all and without reducing the laying speed (its maximum speed was 4.8 km / day). It should also be borne in mind that it takes 12 hours for Chersky to lift the pipe, and almost a day for Fortuna (from the moment the hook operation starts to the start of the laying movement). Moreover,the speed of laying is also significantly influenced by the height of the wave (sea agitation), I'm not talking about the depth and topography of the bottom, the direction of the wind, the course to the wave, the speed of the current, the density of the water and the presence of floating algae. This summer, the weather at the place of work did not work out. Locals will not remember such a frequency of storm winds on the Pomeranian seaside. If the weather conditions allowed, the “Akademik Chersky” according to its technical characteristics is capable of laying up to 3.15 km / day (with a wind speed of no more than 4 m / s), and “Fortuna” up to 1.21 km / day (with a wind no more than 3 m / s). As the wind speed increases, the paving speed naturally decreases.This summer, the weather at the place of work did not work out. Locals will not remember such a frequency of storm winds on the Pomeranian seaside. If the weather conditions allowed, the “Akademik Chersky” according to its technical characteristics is capable of laying up to 3.15 km / day (with a wind speed of no more than 4 m / s), and “Fortuna” up to 1.21 km / day (with a wind no more than 3 m / s). As the wind speed increases, the paving speed naturally decreases.This summer, the weather at the place of work did not work out. Locals will not remember such a frequency of storm winds on the Pomeranian seaside. If the weather conditions allowed, the “Akademik Chersky” according to its technical characteristics is capable of laying up to 3.15 km / day (with a wind speed of no more than 4 m / s), and “Fortuna” up to 1.21 km / day (with a wind no more than 3 m / s). As the wind speed increases, the paving speed naturally decreases.

But the trouble is that Akademik Chersky did not reach its design indicators, giving a maximum of 400 to 700 m / day, which is why it was replaced by Fortuna. Fortuna has been setting records for laying speed in recent days, reaching 1.3 km / day. The section in German territorial waters, which Akademik Chersky would pass instead of her in 2 days, while Chersky is given almost a month. You yourself understand that not from a good life - at “Ak. Chersky "are obvious problems, but Putin is in a hurry. Even two days count.

How we got to such a life. History of the issue

As of December 21, 2019, when the Swiss company Allseas with its famous pipe-laying vessels Pioneering Spirit, Solitaire and Audacia, due to US sanctions announced by Trump, suspended its participation in the project and withdrew its vessels from the Baltic sea, on both branches of the SP-2 she had to lay 148 km of pipes out of the planned 2,460 km. At the moment, out of the remaining 148 km, Fortuna's efforts have laid 63 km of the B branch, the remaining 85 km of the A branch was to be laid by Akademik Chersky. And on April 27, 2021, he started these works ("Fortuna" has been working there since December 2020). But for reasons beyond his control, "Chersky" failed. As a result, on the night of June 15, TUB "Fortuna" changed it to the "A" branch. At the time of replacement, he only had to stretch 68 km of pipe, i.e. in 49 days of work, he laid only 17 km.Crazy productivity - 350 m / day at a design paving speed of 3.15 km / day.

Considering the cost of KMTUS "Akademik Chersky", which exceeds 1 billion dollars, this is a fiasco. The conventional pipe-laying barge TUB "Fortuna" (although it is not ordinary at all!), Which, unlike the "academician", does not have a dynamic positioning system that allows keeping the vessel on course without using anchors, coped with the task cheaper, and most importantly, faster.

TUB "Fortuna"

What is Fortuna? It is an anchor barge with a 12-point positioning system for the construction of offshore subsea pipelines. Built at the Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. in Shanghai in 2010, modernized in 2011. Total displacement - 39,989 tons, dimensions - 169 meters in length and 46 in width, height - more than 13.5 m, draft - from 5 to 9 meters. Maximum pipe laying depth - 200 m. Crew - 310 people. The barge is equipped with a 12-anchor positioning system, with anchors weighing 20 tons. To supply electricity at Fortuna there are 4 diesel generators of 2500 kW each. The lifting equipment consists of a crawler crane with a lifting capacity of 250 tons and a standard ship crane on the left side of the vessel with a lifting capacity of 40 tons.

After the modernization carried out in 2012, a crane with a lifting capacity of 1600 tons (300 tons at an outreach of 72 m) was installed on the vessel. Also on the deck, it is possible to install a standard crane with a lifting capacity of up to 2.5-3 thousand tons. About the design speed of pipe laying at 1.21 km / day (with a wind of no more than 3 m / s), I have already said above. About the disadvantages in the form of the lack of a dynamic positioning system, too. Before the appearance of "Chersky" was the flagship of the Russian pipe-laying fleet. It seems that it remains so. Owner: KVT-Rus LLC, Moscow, although before the sanctions it was part of the MRTS fleet (Mezhregiontruboprovodstroy). Previously, the port of registration was Hong Kong, now it is Arkhangelsk.

KMTUS "Academician Chersky"

The main purpose of KMTUS "Akademik Chersky" is to lay pipelines with a diameter of Ø 6 - 60 inches (outer Ø, including coating). And his story is not at all ordinary, but as if written specifically for a cool spy series. The pipe-laying vessel Akademik Chersky (formerly Jascon 18) IMO: 8770261, was laid down in 2007 in China at the Jiangsu Hantong Ship Heavy Industry shipyard in Tongzhou by order of the Nigerian-Dutch company Sea Trucks Group Limited (STG). The project was developed by the Norwegian company Vik-Sandvik. The Jascon-18 is a multipurpose construction support vessel. In June 2011, Jascon-18 arrived at the Kwong-Soon shipyard in Singapore for completion. In December 2015, the vessel was purchased by the Singapore branch of the Russian company MRTS.To purchase the vessel, the company, under the guarantee of Gazprom, issued a loan from Gazprombank in the amount of USD 1 billion. In January 2016, the ship was arrested in Singapore on a lawsuit filed by a shipyard for not paying the full construction cost. After the dispute was resolved, in June 2016, the ship was transferred to the balance sheet of Gazprom Flot LLC, which renamed it to Akademik Chersky (in honor of Nikolai Chersky, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences). Until August 2017, it was in the Indonesian port of Batam, then it was relocated to the Russian Federation (then the SP-2 was only at the stage of signing and the use of an "academician" in it was not planned). Initially, Gazprom-Flot intended to use KMTUS for the development of the Kirinskoye gas condensate field in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk as an auxiliary vessel,why it was modernized and retrofitted at the Nakhodka shipyard. All work was completed by May 31, 2019 and cost the customer 813.763 million rubles.

However, when the problem with the completion of SP-2 surfaced, it turned out that KMTUS “Ak. Chersky "is not suitable for solving such problems, since it does not have the necessary welding and installation equipment. And then, urgently at the end of December 2019, Gazprom Flot announces an open tender for the execution of works on retrofitting KMTUS with welding and technological equipment. The cost of the work was estimated at 873.5 million rubles. A tender was announced, the results of which were announced on January 30, 2020. It was won by several Western companies. Retrofitting a vessel under the sanctions is a non-trivial task, to put it mildly. Nevertheless, European manufacturers contrived to equip the "academician" with the latest technologyby supplying the vessel with equipment worth at least $ 10 million. The Italians and the Dutch distinguished themselves. Italian company Nuova Patavium supplied pipe edge processing machines and electro-hydraulic power units for them, another Italian company Opus SRL supplied pneumatic centralizer elements for automatic pipe welding, and Dutch Vermaat Technics BV equipped the vessel with an ultra-modern computerized external orbital welding system Veraweld Torch System D. The Kremlin has cleverly bypassed US sanctions through a system of padding firms and under-invoicing. As they say, every cunning Santa Claus always has his own Macaulay Culkin (those who watched "Home Alone", they will understand). The final modernization and retrofitting of "Chersky" took place in the German port of Mukran on the island of Rügen - the logistics base of the SP-2, where he arrived,having made an unprecedented three-month transoceanic passage from the port of Nakhodka across three oceans (Pacific, Indian and Atlantic) around Africa, accompanied by convoy warships, calling at all possible ports. Such a round-the-world odyssey also cost Gazprom a pretty penny. And all this just in order to then swallow dust from under the hooves of some "Fortune"?

Main characteristics:

Displacement (summer): 30146 t
Gross tonnage: 29513 t
Length: 150 m
Width: 36.8 m Depth
: 15.1 m
Draft: 6.8 m
Max. speed: 12 knots
Cruising range: 18 720 miles
Dynamic positioning system: DP3
Anchor positioning system: 8 anchor
Cranes: main - SWL 1200 t (33 m) + SWL 600 t (29 m) = SWL 1800 t (27 m) , auxiliary - 2 x SWL 40 t (40 m)
Crew: 379 people.

The ship is equipped with a dynamic positioning system (DP3), which controls the course and position of the vessel, activating the motors based on information from the gyrocompass, wind sensor, and target position. This eliminates the need for anchor positioning system. But at the request of Germany, for work in shallow water during the modernization, the vessel was additionally equipped with an 8-anchor positioning anchor system.

Owner since June 2020: JSC Samara Heat and Power Property Fund (subsidiary of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz). Home port: unknown (encrypted).

I have only one question (more precisely two) - who is to blame for the failure of “Ak. Chersky ”, and who will be responsible for this failure? As it turned out, we were able to complete the SP-2 without it, mainly through the efforts of "Fortune". Why was such an expensive banquet necessary and what went wrong?

https://topcor-ru.translate.goog/20731-dostrojka-severnogo-potoka-2-kto-otvetit-za-fiasko-akademika-cherskogo.html?utm_source=finobzor.ru&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB&_x_tr_pto=ajax,se,elem

franco wrote:NOTE: Interesting read explaining some of the technical challenges.

Completion of Nord Stream 2: who will be responsible for the Akademik Chersky fiasco

Latest news from the construction of SP-2: July 17, KMTUS "Akademik Chersky" returns to the "A" branch. This was reported by the German Federal Administration for Waterways and Shipping. Its task: by 15 August to lay 2.6 km of pipe in the exceptional German economic zone in shallow water in the area of ​​the Adlergrund bank (there the depth is not more than 22 m). "Akademik Chersky" will move towards TUB "Fortuna", which is laying its part of the route in the exclusive Danish economic zone at depths of 60 to 63 meters. At the moment, Fortuna has 59 km to go (in this figure, both the Danish and German sections of the pipe). The latter is 14.4 km, of which 2.6 km is shallow water; Chersky will not be able to pull further 2.6 km, because it is more convenient to dock the two parts of the gas pipeline at shallow depths.

What follows from this? Putin is in a hurry, the blood from his nose must have time to lay the pipe before September 26, before the day of elections to the Bundestag. Now the weather in the Baltic has deteriorated somewhat. And although the temperature is kept in the region of 20 дожд, but with rains and thunderstorms, the wind speed is from 9 to 12 m / s, with gusts up to 16 m / s. With this wind, the laying speed decreases. The fact is that when the wind increases over 10 m / s for Chersky and over 8 m / s for Fortuna, they have to drop the pipe so as not to lead to an accident. The Swiss "Pioneering Spirit" could operate at a wind speed of 6 m / s, without dropping the pipe at all and without reducing the laying speed (its maximum speed was 4.8 km / day). It should also be borne in mind that it takes 12 hours for Chersky to lift the pipe, and almost a day for Fortuna (from the moment the hook operation starts to the start of the laying movement). Moreover,the speed of laying is also significantly influenced by the height of the wave (sea agitation), I'm not talking about the depth and topography of the bottom, the direction of the wind, the course to the wave, the speed of the current, the density of the water and the presence of floating algae. This summer, the weather at the place of work did not work out. Locals will not remember such a frequency of storm winds on the Pomeranian seaside. If the weather conditions allowed, the “Akademik Chersky” according to its technical characteristics is capable of laying up to 3.15 km / day (with a wind speed of no more than 4 m / s), and “Fortuna” up to 1.21 km / day (with a wind no more than 3 m / s). As the wind speed increases, the paving speed naturally decreases.This summer, the weather at the place of work did not work out. Locals will not remember such a frequency of storm winds on the Pomeranian seaside. If the weather conditions allowed, the “Akademik Chersky” according to its technical characteristics is capable of laying up to 3.15 km / day (with a wind speed of no more than 4 m / s), and “Fortuna” up to 1.21 km / day (with a wind no more than 3 m / s). As the wind speed increases, the paving speed naturally decreases.This summer, the weather at the place of work did not work out. Locals will not remember such a frequency of storm winds on the Pomeranian seaside. If the weather conditions allowed, the “Akademik Chersky” according to its technical characteristics is capable of laying up to 3.15 km / day (with a wind speed of no more than 4 m / s), and “Fortuna” up to 1.21 km / day (with a wind no more than 3 m / s). As the wind speed increases, the paving speed naturally decreases.

But the trouble is that Akademik Chersky did not reach its design indicators, giving a maximum of 400 to 700 m / day, which is why it was replaced by Fortuna. Fortuna has been setting records for laying speed in recent days, reaching 1.3 km / day. The section in German territorial waters, which Akademik Chersky would pass instead of her in 2 days, while Chersky is given almost a month. You yourself understand that not from a good life - at “Ak. Chersky "are obvious problems, but Putin is in a hurry. Even two days count.

How we got to such a life. History of the issue

As of December 21, 2019, when the Swiss company Allseas with its famous pipe-laying vessels Pioneering Spirit, Solitaire and Audacia, due to US sanctions announced by Trump, suspended its participation in the project and withdrew its vessels from the Baltic sea, on both branches of the SP-2 she had to lay 148 km of pipes out of the planned 2,460 km. At the moment, out of the remaining 148 km, Fortuna's efforts have laid 63 km of the B branch, the remaining 85 km of the A branch was to be laid by Akademik Chersky. And on April 27, 2021, he started these works ("Fortuna" has been working there since December 2020). But for reasons beyond his control, "Chersky" failed. As a result, on the night of June 15, TUB "Fortuna" changed it to the "A" branch. At the time of replacement, he only had to stretch 68 km of pipe, i.e. in 49 days of work, he laid only 17 km.Crazy productivity - 350 m / day at a design paving speed of 3.15 km / day.

Considering the cost of KMTUS "Akademik Chersky", which exceeds 1 billion dollars, this is a fiasco. The conventional pipe-laying barge TUB "Fortuna" (although it is not ordinary at all!), Which, unlike the "academician", does not have a dynamic positioning system that allows keeping the vessel on course without using anchors, coped with the task cheaper, and most importantly, faster.

TUB "Fortuna"

What is Fortuna? It is an anchor barge with a 12-point positioning system for the construction of offshore subsea pipelines. Built at the Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. in Shanghai in 2010, modernized in 2011. Total displacement - 39,989 tons, dimensions - 169 meters in length and 46 in width, height - more than 13.5 m, draft - from 5 to 9 meters. Maximum pipe laying depth - 200 m. Crew - 310 people. The barge is equipped with a 12-anchor positioning system, with anchors weighing 20 tons. To supply electricity at Fortuna there are 4 diesel generators of 2500 kW each. The lifting equipment consists of a crawler crane with a lifting capacity of 250 tons and a standard ship crane on the left side of the vessel with a lifting capacity of 40 tons.

After the modernization carried out in 2012, a crane with a lifting capacity of 1600 tons (300 tons at an outreach of 72 m) was installed on the vessel. Also on the deck, it is possible to install a standard crane with a lifting capacity of up to 2.5-3 thousand tons. About the design speed of pipe laying at 1.21 km / day (with a wind of no more than 3 m / s), I have already said above. About the disadvantages in the form of the lack of a dynamic positioning system, too. Before the appearance of "Chersky" was the flagship of the Russian pipe-laying fleet. It seems that it remains so. Owner: KVT-Rus LLC, Moscow, although before the sanctions it was part of the MRTS fleet (Mezhregiontruboprovodstroy). Previously, the port of registration was Hong Kong, now it is Arkhangelsk.

KMTUS "Academician Chersky"

The main purpose of KMTUS "Akademik Chersky" is to lay pipelines with a diameter of Ø 6 - 60 inches (outer Ø, including coating). And his story is not at all ordinary, but as if written specifically for a cool spy series. The pipe-laying vessel Akademik Chersky (formerly Jascon 18) IMO: 8770261, was laid down in 2007 in China at the Jiangsu Hantong Ship Heavy Industry shipyard in Tongzhou by order of the Nigerian-Dutch company Sea Trucks Group Limited (STG). The project was developed by the Norwegian company Vik-Sandvik. The Jascon-18 is a multipurpose construction support vessel. In June 2011, Jascon-18 arrived at the Kwong-Soon shipyard in Singapore for completion. In December 2015, the vessel was purchased by the Singapore branch of the Russian company MRTS.To purchase the vessel, the company, under the guarantee of Gazprom, issued a loan from Gazprombank in the amount of USD 1 billion. In January 2016, the ship was arrested in Singapore on a lawsuit filed by a shipyard for not paying the full construction cost. After the dispute was resolved, in June 2016, the ship was transferred to the balance sheet of Gazprom Flot LLC, which renamed it to Akademik Chersky (in honor of Nikolai Chersky, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences). Until August 2017, it was in the Indonesian port of Batam, then it was relocated to the Russian Federation (then the SP-2 was only at the stage of signing and the use of an "academician" in it was not planned). Initially, Gazprom-Flot intended to use KMTUS for the development of the Kirinskoye gas condensate field in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk as an auxiliary vessel,why it was modernized and retrofitted at the Nakhodka shipyard. All work was completed by May 31, 2019 and cost the customer 813.763 million rubles.

However, when the problem with the completion of SP-2 surfaced, it turned out that KMTUS “Ak. Chersky "is not suitable for solving such problems, since it does not have the necessary welding and installation equipment. And then, urgently at the end of December 2019, Gazprom Flot announces an open tender for the execution of works on retrofitting KMTUS with welding and technological equipment. The cost of the work was estimated at 873.5 million rubles. A tender was announced, the results of which were announced on January 30, 2020. It was won by several Western companies. Retrofitting a vessel under the sanctions is a non-trivial task, to put it mildly. Nevertheless, European manufacturers contrived to equip the "academician" with the latest technologyby supplying the vessel with equipment worth at least $ 10 million. The Italians and the Dutch distinguished themselves. Italian company Nuova Patavium supplied pipe edge processing machines and electro-hydraulic power units for them, another Italian company Opus SRL supplied pneumatic centralizer elements for automatic pipe welding, and Dutch Vermaat Technics BV equipped the vessel with an ultra-modern computerized external orbital welding system Veraweld Torch System D. The Kremlin has cleverly bypassed US sanctions through a system of padding firms and under-invoicing. As they say, every cunning Santa Claus always has his own Macaulay Culkin (those who watched "Home Alone", they will understand). The final modernization and retrofitting of "Chersky" took place in the German port of Mukran on the island of Rügen - the logistics base of the SP-2, where he arrived,having made an unprecedented three-month transoceanic passage from the port of Nakhodka across three oceans (Pacific, Indian and Atlantic) around Africa, accompanied by convoy warships, calling at all possible ports. Such a round-the-world odyssey also cost Gazprom a pretty penny. And all this just in order to then swallow dust from under the hooves of some "Fortune"?

Main characteristics:

Displacement (summer): 30146 t
Gross tonnage: 29513 t
Length: 150 m
Width: 36.8 m Depth
: 15.1 m
Draft: 6.8 m
Max. speed: 12 knots
Cruising range: 18 720 miles
Dynamic positioning system: DP3
Anchor positioning system: 8 anchor
Cranes: main - SWL 1200 t (33 m) + SWL 600 t (29 m) = SWL 1800 t (27 m) , auxiliary - 2 x SWL 40 t (40 m)
Crew: 379 people.

The ship is equipped with a dynamic positioning system (DP3), which controls the course and position of the vessel, activating the motors based on information from the gyrocompass, wind sensor, and target position. This eliminates the need for anchor positioning system. But at the request of Germany, for work in shallow water during the modernization, the vessel was additionally equipped with an 8-anchor positioning anchor system.

Owner since June 2020: JSC Samara Heat and Power Property Fund (subsidiary of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz). Home port: unknown (encrypted).

I have only one question (more precisely two) - who is to blame for the failure of “Ak. Chersky ”, and who will be responsible for this failure? As it turned out, we were able to complete the SP-2 without it, mainly through the efforts of "Fortune". Why was such an expensive banquet necessary and what went wrong?

https://topcor-ru.translate.goog/20731-dostrojka-severnogo-potoka-2-kto-otvetit-za-fiasko-akademika-cherskogo.html?utm_source=finobzor.ru&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB&_x_tr_pto=ajax,se,elem

How did they not know that the cherskiy lacks the "necessary welding equipment"?

The author sounds as if he has to pay the expenses from his own pocket.

There are objective reasons for the superior performance of the Fortuna. It is heavier, sits deeper in the water and covers a larger
surface area. So it does not rock as much as the Cherskiy. The Fortuna was clearly able to actively maintain its location and was
not some "tub". If the Cherskiy can do the same, that does not mean it is better.

If you look at the AllSeas pipelayer, then you see that they use two hulls for stabilization. AllSeas does have a single hull layer called
Solitaire but it was not using it for Nord Stream II.

The need to upgrade the Ckerskiy tells me that it was not designed to lay the diameter of pipe used for NS2. This begs the question
why it was not originally designed for such diameter pipes. I think the designers were not clueless idiots. It is possible that the
pipe section handling was an issue. The upgraded welding equipment is not likely to have been any form of bottleneck.

Russia was indeed almost caught with its pants down save for Fortuna when AllSeas pulled out. Russia will need to design and build
something better than Cherskiy which can achieve the same performance as the AllSeas vessels.