Speaking at the Vnesheconombank (VEB) Supervisory Board meeting, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the bank plans to provide 18.5 billion rubles in loans for building an up-to-date shuttle tanker to carry liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Arctic zone.

The Prime Minister recalled that he recently held a meeting in Sabetta on the development of energy projects using LNG.

"We discussed whether we had enough capacity for transporting the gas, when the volume is increasing in line with the implementation of investment projects. We regard it as important to synchronize the activities of all participants, including icebreaker and tanker fleets, in order to avoid a situation where the commodity is in place but the tankers are not," said Medvedev.

"Vessels must be built now. VEB is to lend funds for building a new generation shuttle tanker with the best ice and manoeuver performance. The state corporation's planned loans total 18.5 billion rubles," noted the Prime Minister.

In March 2018, President Putin set the task of increasing cargo turnover on the Northern Sea Route (NSR) to 80 million metric tons by 2025.

In Medvedev's estimate, the volume of shipments could rise to 24 million metric tons in 2019, while this year it amounted to 18 million metric tons, according to Maxim Kulinko, Deputy Head of the NSR Directorate and head of the NSR and Rosatom coastal area development department.