Italian shipbuilding group Fincantieri has done a deal with the Russians to develop a new generation drillship, plus a semi-submersible platform designed to transport nuclear submarine reactor compartments.
Fincantieri will work together with the Krylov State Research Centre, which is a naval establishment, to develop a drill ship able to operate in a polar environment.
The highly advanced vessel will be able to navigate in ice up to 1.5m thick and ambient temperatures of -40°C and will have a four-month operational autonomy.
It appears that the Russians are prepared to plough more than $1billion into arctic class mobile offshore drilling units by 2030.
The other piece of work won by Fincantieri covers the build of a semi-submersible that will be built in the Group’s Italian yards for delivery by the end of 2015.
It will displace some 3,000 tonnes and be used to transport special material between the storage area and White Sea shipyards facing the Kola Peninsula.
The contract, awarded by RosRAO, follows on from the 2003 cooperation agreement between the Russian and Italian governments for the dismantling of nuclear submarines and the safe management of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, reached within the framework of the G8 Global Partnership, launched at the 2002 summit in Kananaskis (Canada).
Fincantieri has already built a waste handling vessel under this agreement – the Rossita – which was delivered by the group’s Muggiano yard in the summer of 2011.
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