Shipowner Teekay LNG Partners held a steel cutting ceremony for LNG icebreaker Rudolf Samoylovich at South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard on Nov. 22. The icebreaker is Teekay's second of six 172,000cbm ARC7 LNG carriers to be constructed for the Yamal LNG project in Northern Russia.

The 110,000gt ship will measure 298m in length and 45.8m in width.

It is expected that the Yamal LNG project will produce 16.5 million metric tons of LNG annually. The project, sponsored by Novatek OAO, Total SA, China National Petroleum Corporation and Silk Road Fund, is scheduled to kick off production in 2017.