Russia announces further delays in its Arctic drilling programme

The Prirazlomnoye field in the Pechora Sea

The Prirazlomnoye field in the Pechora Sea

Bellona news agency states:”The launch this year of drilling at Russian State gas monopoly Gazprom’s Prirazlomnoye field in the Pechora Sea off Russia’s northwest coast – one of the gas giant’s signature projects – has been put off until autumn of 2013, Russia media have reported.

The announcement could signal a second blow to Gazprom’s Arctic hydrocarbon recovery ambitions, following closely on the heels of Gazprom’s announcement last month at Norway’s Offshore Northern Shores (ONS) conference that it would be indefinitely shelving indefinitely its push forward on the Shotkman gas condensate field cost overrun problems.

Bellona advisor Larisa Bronder said such heavy-duty recent delays are a clear indication that Russia’s oil and gas industry are not nearly prepared to begin drilling in Arctic conditions.

Gazprom says it will now not begin work on drilling the massive Arctic Prirazlomnoye field – which is estimated to contain reserves of some 72 million tons, or 97 million cubic metres, of oil – until it is certain its work will be safe, a source close to the project told Reuters, as quoted by the online Russian newspaper Gazeta.ru

Gazprom expects that it will be able to recover some 6.6 million tons a year once production begins, and has invested some $4 billion in the Prirazlomnoye project, the Murmansk-based murman.ru news site reported.  “We are expecting the delivery of platforms in March and the beginning of drilling in April. The beginning of [oil] recovery will happen in September or October of 2013 – there is absolutely no hurry,” the source, who declined to be named, was quoted by Gazeta.ru as saying.

The source did not specify any reasons beyond those of safety for the delay of the single significant Russian oil recovery project scheduled by Russia this year, and did not identify any specific safety concerns that Gazprom itself thinks needs to be addressed.  “No work will begin until the company is completely convinced that its work will be entirely safe,” said the source.  Neither Gazprom itself or its daughter company, Gazprom Oil Shelf, which oversees the day-to-day work in the Prirazlomnoye field were available for immediate comment on the delay.

An inspection of the Prirazlomnoye project conducted over the summer by the Russian Federal Service for Technical, Nuclear and Environmental Oversight (Rostekhnadzor) cited eight violations that prevented the beginning of drilling, murman.ru reported.

Bellona’s advisor Larisa Bronder said the delay in drilling Prirazlomnoye showed just how unprepared the Gazprom was to work in the harsh, yet environmentally fragile condition of the arctic.  “This negative dynamic in the development of Gazprom’s project to develop of the Prirazlomnaya field again underscores the unpreparedness of the Russian gas and oil complex for developing shelf (arctic) fields,” she said. “This unpreparedness is reflected not only in the absence of contemporary technological decisions […] and an actual plan to deal with cleaning up oil spills, but of insufficient financing as well,” added Bronder. She also pointed out the construction of the much-touted Prirazlomnoye platform – advertised as the world’s first Arctic-class ice-resistant oil platform – took a stutter-step 15 years.

 

Greenpeace activists board the Prirazlomnoye platform from boats with mountain climbing equipment

Greenpeace activists board the Prirazlomnoye platform from boats with mountain climbing equipment
Greenpeace

 

Gazprom’s plans at Prirazlomnoye have attracted a hailstorm of high-profile environmental criticism, and some Russian press outlets have speculated that this negative attention may have forced Gazprom to put the brakes on hasty development.  Late last month six international activists from Greenpeace managed to evade security and board the Prirazlomnoye platform. The activists spent some 15 hours dangling from the platform.

Source: Bellona, 24th September 2012, http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2012/prirazlomnoye_delay

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