Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday launched an oil tanker capable of slicing through more than a meter of ice, bringing the country a step closer toward its decade-long ambition to start its first offshore oil field in the Arctic.

Gazprom has delayed the start of its Prirazlomnoye oil field for nearly 10 years as it persists with domestic firms to equip the project, helping Russia develop the technical know-how to conquer other Arctic mineral riches.

The 260-meter-long Kirill Lavrov was launched at the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg.

“A year ago I saw anxious eyes of shipbuilders as they started work. It was a professional challenge,” Putin said in comments posted on the government web site. Foreign reporters are not allowed to visit the shipyards.

“It is amazing that such a giant was built in such a short period of time,” Putin told shipbuilders.

The Kirill Lavrov, named after a popular Soviet actor renowned for playing the role of Vladimir Lenin, can break ice 1.2 meters thick when moving astern at a speed of 3 knots. It can reach a speed of 16 knots moving forward in open waters.

Maritime shipping company Sovkomflot, which features in the state list of firms due for partial privatization in 2010, ordered the tanker from Admiralty Shipyards after buying a similar one from Samsung Heavy Industries.