MOSCOW, October 27 (RIA Novosti) — Oil and gas extraction in the Arctic requires the creation of universal technological solutions and Russia cannot rely solely on foreign companies to provide it with equipment, Alexander Mandel, adviser to the director general of Gazprom Neft Shelf said Monday.
"I will once again stress that for the exploration of the Arctic Shelf, we now need to create universal solutions [standard platforms, ships] and begin flow production. We are currently carrying out one-off production, and one-off is always expensive. Moreover, it is necessary to pay maximum attention to the development of subsea technologies and localize 70 percent of the production in Russia," Mandel said in an interview with Gazprom's corporate magazine. He noted that the creation of universal solutions would take about five years.
"I believe that one cannot rely solely on foreign companies. We must ourselves delve into all the issues concerning offshore development, create new technologies and technical solutions based on domestic and international experience," Mandel added.
According to the adviser, foreign companies are understandably showing interest in the Russian Arctic shelf, as only 5 to 10 percent of the shelf has been geologically explored and there is a high probability of discovering large oil and gas reserves in the region.
There is a present need to develop production projects on the Russian shelf in the Barents and Kara seas, Mandel said. "They are well explored. But the Laptev, East Siberian and Bering seas are untilled fields, there may be large and unrecorded reserves, and the climatic conditions are difficult. The logistics are complicated," he added.
Gazprom Neft Shelf is a subsidiary of Russian energy giant Gazprom and was created to develop offshore oil and gas fields. The company holds a license for the development of the Prirazlomnoye field, which was discovered in 1989 on the shelf of the Pechora Sea.
