Sechin noted the strategic role of the Zvezda shipyard in the development of the Northern Sea Route

The Zvezda shipbuilding complex plays a strategic role in ensuring Russia's technological independence, as well as in the development of the Northern Sea Route, said Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, speaking at the company's annual shareholders' meeting in Bolshoy Kamen, Primorsky Krai.

According to him, the events in the Middle East have clearly demonstrated the need to develop alternative routes, among which the NSR plays a key role. "Against this background, the strategic role of Zvezda, capable of building modern icebreakers, tankers and ice—class gas carriers, is dramatically increasing," Sechin said.

He recalled that in 2025, the shipyard handed over to the customer the lead LNG tanker of the ARC 7 ice class Alexei Kosygin. This vessel, which holds over 170 thousand cubic meters of liquefied natural gas, is equipped with screw steering columns manufactured at the Saphir plant.

Also last year, the Ivan Aivazovsky twin—fuel tanker with a cargo capacity of 50 thousand tons was transferred, which became the lead in a new series of vessels for transporting petroleum products in ice conditions, and at the end of 2024, the Valentin Pikul Arctic tanker with a payload capacity of 69 thousand tons, capable of navigating independently without icebreaking escort with ice thickness up to 1.7 m .

Since 2020, Zvezda has delivered nine vessels to customers, including five Aframax-type twin-fuel oil tankers. The shipyard's order portfolio exceeds 50 vessels.

The head of Rosneft also said that construction of the Primorsky Metallurgical Plant is underway next to the shipyard, which will be fully integrated into the structure of the shipbuilding cluster. The plant's capacity is 1.5 million tons per year. The company will produce large-format steel sheet and large-diameter pipes. The project will create more than 3.8 thousand jobs and give a powerful impetus to the economic development of Primorsky Krai, Sechin is sure.