ROSATOM and Nornickel sign supplementary agreement on icebreaker accompaniment

St.Petersburg, July 23 - Neftegaz.RU. ROSATOM and Nornickel have signed a supplementary agreement to complement their 2018 cooperation agreement.
The additional agreement will last through 2030 – a testament to the strategic partnership between the 2 companies.

The supplementary agreement was signed by ROSATOM’s 1^st Deputy Director General Kirill Komarov and Nornickel’s Senior Vice President Sergey Dubovitsky.

The document entails an expansion of the parties’ cooperation as Nornickel plans to increase its cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route.
The metals & mining company is increasing its traffic volume to facilitate the timely implementation of its strategic investment projects in the Norilsk industrial region.
These projects include the company’s primary environmental initiative – the Sulfur Programme.

At present, Taymyr and Vaygach-type nuclear-powered icebreakers accompany Nornickel vessels from January to May.
Under the new agreement, the period of vessel accompaniment will be expanded to November-May.
Kirill Komarov said:

• ROSATOM and Nornickel have successfully cooperated in providing cargo transportation with icebreaker accompaniment along the Northern Sea Route
• The extension of their agreement until 2030 demonstrates that the profitability of projects implemented in the Arctic directly depends on the efficient operation of [Russia’s] nuclear icebreaker fleet

Sergey Dubovitsky noted:

• Nornickel has historically used the Northern Sea Route for cargo transportation and is one of its oldest users
• Today, the company is at a new stage of its development
• Our new ambitious projects to modernize production, improve the environmental situation, renovate Norilsk, require not only largescale investments, but also reliable infrastructure, including transport
• The nuclear icebreaker fleet, which has been our long-term and trustworthy partner for more than half a century, will become a direct participant in these changes

The parties also intend to conclude take-or-pay contracts in the future on the provision of vessel accompaniment services using project 22220 nuclear icebreakers for a period of 15 years for a fixed price in Russian roubles and annual adjustments to reflect the previous year’s inflation, with the option of extending said contracts for two 10-year periods.

Atomflot, Rosatom subsidiary in charge of operation & maintenance of the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet, plans to operate Nornickel’s future dual-fuel diesel-LNG icebreaker.
The parties also intend to look into the possibility of jointly building an icebreaker to replace the retiring Taymyr/Vaygach-type icebreaker, as well as a fleet of port icebreakers to replace Nornickel’s port icebreaker Dudinka.