It is freezing midwinter, but Rosneft continues Arctic shipments to its grand Vostok Oil

Photos and videos shared by the company show ships escorted by nuclear icebreakers sailing through thick Arctic sea-ice. One of the ships are loaded with oil pipes.

The oil company intends to continue construction works with full steam along the banks of great Arctic river Yenisey through the whole winter.

Video by Rosneft subsidiary RN Vankor. 

Several major shipments are due to deliver construction goods to local project terminals. As much as 700,000 tons of goods will be delivered, which is 20 percent more than in the same period last year, the company informs.

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In 2023, the company exclusively hired nuclear powered icebreaker Ural for escort of its ships through the icy waters.

Following the ship deliveries, the goods will be transported by trucks along ice roads to the project development sites.

The Vostok Oil is the biggest industrial project currently unfolding in Russia. It will include major new infrastructure, such as working villages, a new airport, roads, pipelines and seaports. More than 50 license areas in the Taymyr Peninsula are part of the project that ultimately is planned to produce more than 100 million tons of oil per year.

Included in the project is also an underwater pipeline across the Yenisey.

Rosneft is under great time pressure to develop the Vostok Oil. On a number of occasions, company CEO Igor Sechin has reiterated that the project will produce more than 30 million tons already in 2024.

Most of the oil from Vostok Oil is due to be exported through the Northern Sea Route to Asian buyers.