Source The French engineering company GTT stopped cooperation with the Zvezda plant under a contract for the construction of 15 icebreaking gas carriers. The manufacturer of containers for sea transportation of gas, the French GTT, has announced its withdrawal from Russia. The company will stop working with the Russian Zvezda under a contract for the construction of 15 gas carriers. Its participation in the treaty will be limited to the delivery of two vessels. As stated on the company's website, the decision was made due to the restrictions provided for by the eighth and ninth packages of EU sanctions.
GTT is a world leader in the production of membrane container systems that are used to transport and store liquefied natural gas. The tanks produced by the company are necessary for the safe storage of fuel in large volumes at temperatures down to minus 163 degrees.
Comments Stanislav Mitrakhovich, leading expert of the National Energy Security Fund and the Financial University:
“The French are the world's key manufacturer of membrane devices, which are needed in order to create and design LNG tankers. In Russia, there are plans to produce similar tankers at the Zvezda shipyard in the Far East. New Russian LNG projects such as Arctic LNG 2 were designed to use tankers. The launch of the first tanker has already been postponed for a year, perhaps this is not the end of the problems. It will take a long time to solve the accumulated problems of shipbuilding. We are paying for the fact that for a long time they were not engaged in shipbuilding, and here there is also a specific shipbuilding associated with cryogenic technologies and the like. The story with the French is not the only problem here. In general, it was assumed that the Zvezda shipyard would be engaged in the SKD assembly of those modules that are supplied from South Korea. That is, South Korea is a partner for Russia in the sense that it created tankers that are used now, it was supposed to be used in the future partially for the transportation of Russian liquefied gas, but also in order for Russia to master shipbuilding itself, it was supposed to partner with South Korea . If South Korea continues to work with us, that's one story, if after the news about the French there are still problems with the Koreans, then our ability to master shipbuilding will require even more time. Ultimately, this will happen, Russia is a country that knows how to make icebreakers, which launched satellites into space and the like, in the end the problem will be solved, but the time frame for localizing shipbuilding is an open question.”
Can the French be replaced? The opinion of Lev Levit, Associate Professor of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after Lomonosov:
“The withdrawal of foreign companies from the Russian market carries certain risks. Such an action runs counter to the global practice of economic relations – for the Western business world, the terms of the contract are an immutable stone in relations. We know that countries that have violated some conditions are still paying their debt obligations under the First World War. The Russian Federation has experience of interregional cooperation, which can produce, perhaps, somewhat worse, but comparable equipment in a number of parameters. But the task of replacing technological equipment is more difficult, because the situation with the construction of buildings in the Russian Federation is much better, we have vast experience, and the equipment is a product of international cooperation and reflects advanced technical thought.”
In March, the Financial Times reported that Russia's gas projects in the Arctic could be in jeopardy due to the decision of foreign manufacturers of gas containers to stop cooperation with Russian companies amid sanctions. According to the publication, projects in the Arctic should be most affected by the departure of GTT.
Now Russia's Arctic projects include Yamal LNG in Northwestern Siberia, which accounted for 5% of world exports in 2020 LNG, Arctic LNG-2 worth about $23 billion (the export of raw materials under this project should begin in 2023), as well as Sakhalin-2.
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