Fewer high-risk Russian ships along Norway's coastline

Whilst sailing numbers have been constant, with 274 ships in 2011 and 273 in 2010, the Norwegian Coastal Authority says 2011’s volumes of petroleum products transported declined sharply by approximately three million tonnes compared with the previous year.

Crude oil-carrying tanker cargos also decreased from 77 in 2010 to 51 in 2011, with volumes transported along the Norwegian coast declining by 2.7 million tonnes.

According to the Barents Observer’s Thomas Nilsen, the lower volumes have two main reasons.

He tells Aftenbladet: “Firstly, the land-based fields that pipe oil to the Barandei terminal, north of Arkhangelsk by the Pechora Sea furthest east in the Barents, produced less oil.”

“The second reason is that the sailing season along the Northern Sea Route along the coast of Siberia to Asia was open longer last year than ever before. The sailing season lasted from late June to mid-November. The Russians transported oil (mainly as condensate) along the Northern Sea Route to China and Thailand.”

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