Offshore oil production exacerbates the problem. Shared Barents Sea Resources Like Brothers? Russian Far East

The Arctic is a zone of strategic interests of the Russian Federation. Russia is interested in the Arctic for many reasons. One of the main ones is material. The region is believed to contain 30% of the world's undiscovered gas and 13% oil (USGS estimate). These resources, among other things, could become a potential source of attracting investment in the Russian economy.

The Northern Sea Route passing through the Arctic (a record 4 million tons of cargo was transported along it in 2014) also contains economic potential, including for the development of Russia's northern regions.

Oil and gas fields in many regions of the world are in a phase of depletion. The Arctic, on the other hand, remains one of the few regions of the planet where energy companies have hardly been actively producing. This is due to the harsh climatic conditions that made it difficult to extract resources.

In the Arctic, meanwhile, up to 25% of the world's hydrocarbon reserves are concentrated. According to the US Geological Survey, the region contains 90 billion barrels of oil, 47.3 trillion cubic meters. meters of gas and 44 billion barrels of gas condensate. Control over these reserves will allow the Arctic states in the future to ensure high rates of growth of national economies. We have already written in more detail about the Russian ones here.

Today let's talk about something else - why oil production in the Arctic is a bad idea. On the official website of Greenpeace Russia, 10 reasons are indicated that indicate the danger and shortsightedness of actions by any countries interested in oil production in the Arctic zone.

Let us consider the example of the only stationary oil platform - Prirazlomnaya, which produces oil on the Russian Arctic shelf. The first batch of Arctic oil grade ARCO (Arctic oil) was shipped in April 2014, and in September 2014, the millionth barrel of oil was produced at Prirazlomnaya.

The platform is located 55 km north of the Varandey village in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and 320 km north-east of the city of Naryan-Mar.

The license for the Prirazlomnoye field is held by OOO Gazprom Neft Shelf (a subsidiary of OAO Gazprom Neft). The platform was created specifically for the development of the field and carries out all the necessary technological operations - drilling wells, production, storage, offloading oil to tankers, generating heat and electricity. The uniqueness of Prirazlomnaya is that for the first time in the world, hydrocarbons are produced on the Arctic shelf from a stationary platform in difficult conditions of drifting ice fields. The platform is designed for operation in extreme natural and climatic conditions, meets the most stringent safety requirements and is able to withstand maximum ice loads.

Despite all of the above, and the assurances of the oil producing company about maximum safety and the ability to withstand any stress, Greenpeace Russia, by the nature of its activity, considers oil production at Prirazlomnaya to be a dangerous occupation.

So what are these reasons:

1. Oil on the Arctic shelf is too expensive.

The prime cost of oil production at Prirazlomnaya is $ 30 per barrel. This is about 3 times more expensive than producing oil on land. For insurance of environmental risks, Gazprom, one of the most successful companies in the world, has pledged 175 thousand dollars. By comparison, the accident in the Gulf of Mexico cost $ 41.3 billion.

2. Removing oil in the Arctic is extremely difficult.

There is no in the world effective methods cleaning of oil products in ice. Norway had the last experience in eliminating the accident. But even there, using the most modern methods, were able to collect only half of the spilled fuel oil.

3. Artika cools the climate of our planet.

Burning oil provokes climate change and melting arctic ice, and without them, solar radiation is reflected worse and worse, and the Earth heats up faster.

4. Oil is already polluting the Arctic.

Every year, Russian rivers carry up to 500,000 tons of oil products into the Arctic Ocean, which were formed, including as a result of accidents during oil production and transportation.

5. We don't need oil from the Arctic.

Russia is the first country in the world in terms of the number of pipeline accidents. First, we should fix oil spills and then focus on developing energy efficient technologies. If they are implemented in our country by 2020, it will help save oil 8 times more than it is supposed to be produced on the Prirazlomnaya platform.

6. Not ready for drilling.

The first drilling platform in the Arctic, Prirazlomnaya, is owned by a subsidiary of Gazprom. It started up with a lot of technical flaws and without an effective spill response plan.

7. Not ready for an accident.

The plan also includes 7 spill response vessels. Shell, which is going to drill offshore Alaska, has 9 vessels at its disposal, while Cairn Energy, operating in Greenland, has 14. By comparison, 6,000 vessels were deployed to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

8. Animals suffer from the industrial development of the Arctic.

Even seismic exploration of oil reserves can cause the death of fish fry and zooplankton, pathological diseases in whales and other animals. An oil spill on the Prirazlomnaya platform could lead to massive deaths of seals, polar bears, birds and other animals.

9. The oil reserves will last for three years.

According to the US Geological Exploration Service, up to 90 billion barrels of oil are concentrated in the Arctic. The figure is considerable. However, it will provide global oil demand for only three years.

10. The consequences of any disaster will last for decades.

Storms, fogs and the polar night complicate any work on oil recovery, which means that most of it will inevitably sink to the bottom and remain on the coast. Oil takes longer to decompose in cold weather. More than 20 years have passed since the major accident of the Exxon Valdis tanker, and oil is still being found on the coast of Alaska.

The Prirazlomnaya accident: a risk zone

The accident at the Prirazlomnaya platform could cause serious damage to nature - the water area and coast of the Pechora Sea, several protected areas will suffer. How the oil slick will spread in the event of a possible spill depends on many factors: time of year and day, wind direction and speed, ice conditions. According to scientists' calculations, a huge area will fall into the risk zone: 140,000 square kilometers of the Pechora Sea (that's about four Baikals!) And over 3,000 kilometers of the coastline. The Nenetsky reserve, as well as the Vaigach and Nenetsky reserves, which are located only 50-60 km from Prirazlomnaya, may suffer from oil. This means that an accident could cause serious damage to populations of animals such as beluga whales, walrus, harp seals, polar bears.

Potential spill scenario

Scientists have examined tens of thousands of possible spill scenarios. On this map is one of them. If the accident is major (10,000 tons of oil gets into the sea), then with the appropriate direction of wind and currents, in a day the oil will reach Dolgy Island. And after another four days, more than 100 tons of oil will be on the shore. The western coast of Dolgiy Island is a part of the Nenetsky nature reserve, the habitat of walrus, as well as many birds: small swan, barnacle goose, comb eider, peregrine falcon, white-tailed eagle, golden eagle, gyrfalcon. Oil can be contaminated up to 40 km of the coast. But the Prirazlomnaya operator's emergency plan does not provide for any means for rescuing animals, and the company's arsenal includes 15 shovels, 15 buckets, 1 sledgehammer for shore cleaning ...

And now more clearly:

Gazprom Neft Shelf is a Russian oil company created to develop offshore oil and gas fields. Owns the license for the development of the Prirazlomnoye oil field, discovered in 1989 on the shelf of the Pechora Sea. Prirazlomnoye is the only field on the Russian Arctic shelf where oil production has already begun. Gazprom Neft Shelf is a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft PJSC.

Activities

Currently, Gazprom Neft Shelf is the only oil company producing oil on the Russian Arctic shelf (Prirazlomnoye field).

The first oil tanker from the Prirazlomnoye field was shipped in April 2014. The command for the shipment was given by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The new grade of the Arctic oil produced on the Russian shelf was named ARCO (Arctic Oil) and for the first time entered the world market. In total, 300 thousand tons of oil were shipped from the Prirazlomnaya platform in 2014. At its peak, the maximum production level can reach 5 million tons of oil per year.

In total, the project provides for the commissioning of 32 wells. The first production well at the field was launched on December 19, 2013. The wellheads of all wells are located inside the platform - thus, its base is also a buffer between the well and the open sea. In addition, special equipment installed on the wells is designed to prevent the possibility of an uncontrolled release of oil or gas - if necessary, the well will be hermetically shut off within 10 seconds.

OIRFP "Prirazlomnaya"

The special hydrometeorological conditions of the Arctic required the use of fundamentally new, unique technologies for the development of the Prirazlomnoye field.

To implement the project, the Prirazlomnaya offshore ice-resistant stationary platform (OIRFP) was created, which ensures the implementation of all technological operations: drilling wells, production, storage, offloading oil to tankers, generating heat and electricity. When designing it, the experience of the leading American, Canadian and Norwegian oil and gas companies, which have been producing in similar natural and climatic conditions for several decades, was taken into account. The platform is designed to ensure the maximum safety of oil production in the Arctic region and is designed for maximum ice loads.

The plan considered various risk scenarios, calculated the forces and means for the formation of emergency units. Also organized professional formations for containment and elimination of possible spills, interaction with state professional bodies has been organized. The company has purchased special equipment that will allow liquidating possible oil spills in Arctic conditions and will be able to collect oil in ice conditions.

Training sessions and comprehensive exercises are constantly held in the area of \u200b\u200bthe platform, designed to ensure maximum coherence of the project team in the event of any emergency situations. Trainings are carried out both at sea in ice conditions and on land - to protect the coastal strip in the area of \u200b\u200bthe village. Varandey. Since the beginning of 2014, the company has conducted more than 100 training sessions on OSR, the largest of which was the Arctic-2014 exercise on search and rescue of people and oil spill response.

Story

Since May 2014, Gazprom Neft Shelf has been a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft PJSC.

On June 1, 2009, OOO Sevmorneftegaz, 100% of which is owned by Gazprom, was renamed into OOO Gazprom Neft Shelf. In October of the same year, Rosnedra reissued licenses for the Prirazlomnoye field from OOO Sevmorneftegaz to OOO Gazprom Neft Shelf.

On December 29, 2004 Gazprom became the sole owner of companies related to the development of

A. OSADCHIY, candidate of technical sciences.

"The wealth of the land of Russian Siberia will grow and the seas will be cold," wrote Mikhail Lomonosov. While exploring Siberia, we usually left out the last words of this quote. But how weighty they sound today, when the geology of not only the land, but also the shelf has been studied, that is, the coastal shallow part of the seas. Almost the entire Russian shelf is located in the cold seas of the Arctic Ocean and Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk... Its length off the coast of Russia is 21% of the entire shelf of the World Ocean. About 70% of its area is promising in terms of minerals, primarily oil and gas.

The main oil and gas reserves of the Russian shelf are concentrated along the Arctic coast.

Oil reserves of Russia, including the shelf.

The wealth of the shelf of the Kara and Barents seas and the adjacent Siberian land. Such a largest field as Kharasaveyskoye is located both on land and in the sea.

Science and Life // Illustrations

Forecast of oil (A) and gas (B) production on the Russian shelf until 2035 (according to the "Oil of Russia" magazine No. 10, 2005).

Installation of a platform at the Sevmash production association in Severodvinsk.

Science and Life // Illustrations

In order to produce oil all year round at the Prirazlomnoye field in the harsh northern conditions, an offshore ice-resistant platform was constructed. At the bottom of the sea, a steel base - a caisson - is installed on a crushed stone pillow.

It is planned to use ice-resistant semi-submersible platforms for drilling wells and pumping gas at the Shtokman field.

The shelf contains a quarter of our oil reserves and half of our gas reserves. They are distributed as follows: Barents Sea - 49%, Kara - 35%, Okhotsk - 15%. And only less than 1% is located in the Baltic Sea and in our section of the Caspian.

Explored reserves on the Arctic Ocean shelf account for 25% of the world's hydrocarbon reserves. To understand what this means for our country, let us recall some facts. Oil and gas provide 20% of Russia's gross domestic product, they are the main items of our export, contributing more than half of its income. However, their main onshore fields are already partially depleted, and in Tataria and Western Siberia they are depleted. According to forecasts, at the current production rates of the exploited fields in Russia, there will be enough oil for 30 years. The increase in the explored reserves does not currently cover the amount produced.

The journal Science and Life has already talked about what the continental shelf is and what its origin is (see the article “Continental Shelf: The Achilles Heel of the Ocean” in issue No.). Where the coast is flat and smoothly goes into the sea, the shelf acts as a continuation of the land under water, while having the same geological structure. If oil and gas are produced in coastal areas, then they can almost certainly be found in the depths of the seabed. Already today, every third ton of oil in the world is produced at sea.

Oil and gas, these native fossils "brothers", were formed and lie in the same parent rocks - in many kilometers of sedimentary strata accumulated at the bottom of ancient seas. These strata are not uniform, but dissected into many layers. different ages... It happens that on top of an oil reservoir in the same reservoir there is a gas "cap". Oil and gas occur in porous formations, composed mainly of sandstones and limestones, from the oldest - the Devonian period (their age is about 1.5 billion years) to the youngest - Neogene, which are only 20 million years old. The field is considered oil or gas, depending on which prevails. The average depth of the deposits is about 3 km, although there are deposits at a depth of 7 km. In what follows, for the sake of brevity, we will only talk about oil, since for a general assessment of reserves by their energy properties, oil is often indicated, recalculating gas reserves in oil equivalent (1 thousand m3 of gas equals 1 ton of oil).

In Western Siberia, the richest in oil, the thickness of sedimentary rocks is more than 10 km. The larger volume and depth of subsidence of the sedimentary strata, as a rule, indicate greater potential resources. The only question is whether the accumulated organic matter has matured to the stage of oil. It takes at least 10 million years to ripen, and even a high temperature. It so happens that in some places the oil-bearing strata are not covered from above by a layer of impermeable rocks, for example, clays or salts. Then not only gas, but also all light fractions of oil evaporate and huge reserves of bitumen are formed. In terms of calorie content, they are almost as good as oil; The reserves of raw materials are huge and shallow, but it is almost impossible to approach the bituminous deposits: low fluidity prevents practical development.

The greatest thickness of the sedimentary cover in Russia is in the Caspian region, where it reaches a record 25 km! The modern Caspian Sea is a miserable "dried up" remnants of the ancient warm-water sea. That is why there are so many sedimentary deposits that have accumulated huge reserves of oil (see the article "Big Caspian Oil", "Science and Life" No.).

Russia has the largest length of sea borders and, accordingly, the sea shelf. Most of it is located in the Arctic Ocean, harsh and cold, covered with ice almost all year round. In the east, Russia is washed by the seas of the Pacific Ocean. In the winter months, they are covered with ice from the coast of Chukotka and almost to the southern tip of Sakhalin. But under water and ice fields lie rich oil-bearing structures and already discovered fields (a structure becomes a field when an industrial flow of oil and gas is obtained from a well drilled on it and the reserves can already be estimated approximately).

Traveling along the maritime borders of Russia, we will see what is open on the shelf, what is mined nearby on the coast, we will look at the geology of the coast and shelf, or rather, at the sedimentary strata. It should be noted right away that the sea shelves have been studied on average by only 7%, while the main land oil and gas regions have been studied by more than 50%. Therefore, we can only talk about potential shelf reserves.

ALONG THE SEA BORDERS OF RUSSIA

Co school years we are familiar with the geographical map of our country, with green spots of lowlands and brown, different shades, mountains. But very few people have seen a similar map of the seabed relief, especially the Arctic Ocean - it appeared quite recently.

Let's start a more detailed inspection of the shelf from the border with Norway. Of course, on land it is precisely defined - up to a meter, because these small kilometers were our only land border with NATO member countries. Further to the north, the dividing line of the bottom of the Barents Sea has not yet been recorded. This is due to the fact that back in 1926 the government of the USSR declared the sea border to be an extension of the land border exactly to the north. So it is indicated on all domestic maps and in atlases. For a long time the border was quite suitable for our neighbor - Norway. But other times have come. In 1982, the International Convention on the Law of the Sea was adopted, which we also signed. And she recommends drawing the seabed dividing line along the median line between the shores of territories belonging to countries. (This is how we recently shared the Caspian with our neighbors - Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan). In the case of the Russian-Norwegian border, the line should run midway between the shores of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land, which belong to Russia, and the shores of Spitsbergen and Norway itself. It turned out that this median line runs east of the border we announced in 1926. As a result, a significant (several tens of thousands of square kilometers) section of the seabed appeared, which both states claim. This section of the sea floor is predicted to contain large reserves of hydrocarbons. Moreover, the mining conditions are quite easy: shallow depth and no ice - after all, a branch of the Gulf Stream runs here, which is why the port in Murmansk is non-freezing and the winter on the Kola Peninsula is relatively warm.

Let's move further east. In terms of geological structure, the entire Kola Peninsula is part of the emerging Baltic shield formed by ancient igneous rocks. Their age on the surface can reach 3 billion years, and the age of the Earth is only 6 billion. It is no coincidence that it was here, near the border with Norway, that the Kola superdeep well was drilled to study the deep structure of the Earth (see Science and Life No.). She reached the world's deepest depth - more than 12 km! There are no sedimentary rocks here, and there is no oil either. But the land is washed by the Barents Sea, and under its bottom, at some distance from the coast, there is a large sedimentary stratum - there was a huge sea there in ancient times, apparently warm and shallow, otherwise so much precipitation with organic matter would not have fallen. And therefore, the geological structure of the bottom of the sea is different from that of the land. That is why significant reserves of hydrocarbons have been discovered here.

Beyond the Kola Peninsula - the narrow throat of the White Sea, the outskirts of the Baltic Shield. Sedimentary rocks lie on top of igneous rocks. But what kind of oil is there - the sedimentary stratum barely grew up to 500-600 m and has not yet sunk into the depths.

We follow to the east. We passed the Kanin Peninsula, followed by the Kolguev Island and the Pechora Sea. On the coast, forests gave way to tundra, and below them - many kilometers of sedimentary strata. Here, near Pechora, and further to the south, there are powerful oil and gas fields. Oil workers call this area the Timan-Pechora oil and gas province. And it is no coincidence that the largest oil and gas deposits are located on the shelf of the Pechora Sea (it is relatively small, and it is not distinguished on large-scale maps, considering it a part of the Barents Sea). They go north, to the Barents Sea, along the entire western coast of Novaya Zemlya, but they do not come close to it - Novaya Zemlya is a continuation of the ancient Ural Mountains, and there are no sedimentary rocks here.

We cross the Urals, and at sea - for New earth... Let's take a look at the Yamal Peninsula and the eastern coast of the Ob Bay. They are literally strewn with oil and gas fields, the largest of which are Yamburgskoye gas, Urengoyskoye and Medvezhye oil. In the Ob Bay itself, in 2004, two new deposits were discovered. All the deposits are strung on a string stretching from the southeast to the northwest. The fact is that deep underground there is a large ancient tectonic fault, along which deposits are grouped. More heat is generated along the fault from the depths of the earth, which accelerates the formation of oil from organic matter in the ancient sedimentary strata. So, 84% of the already known reserves of the entire shelf of Russia are concentrated in the Barents and Kara Seas. And on the coast, to the south, there is the huge West Siberian Lowland, which contains 63% of our land oil resources. All of this is the bottom of a single ancient sea that existed for many geological eras. This is where our main nurse is located - the West Siberian oil province. The Yamal Peninsula is also famous for the fact that Russia produces almost 80% of its gas. The neighboring shelf, apparently, contains 95% of the gas reserves of our entire shelf. This is where the main Russian gas pipelines begin, through which gas goes to the countries of Western Europe.

Let's continue our journey along the coast. Further, to the east, are the mouth of the Yenisei and the Taimyr Peninsula. At the Yenisei, the lowland of Western Siberia is replaced by the Siberian platform, stretching to the mouth of the Lena, on which ancient igneous rocks emerge in places. A small deflection of the platform with a six-kilometer layer of sediments bends around the Taimyr Peninsula from the south from the mouth of the Yenisei to Khatanga, but there is no oil in it.

The geology of the north of Eastern Siberia is still very poorly studied. But the general geological structure of this mountainous country indicates that oil is confined to troughs, where there is a sedimentary cover. But further to the east, near the seashore, the geology is already different - here under the bottom of the Arctic Ocean lies a multi-kilometer sedimentary stratum (after raising the land, in some places it "crawled" ashore), promising for oil and gas, but almost completely unexplored. Surveys from the surface are hampered by year-round ice, and the bottom has not yet been drilled.

Let's go around Chukotka: in some places there were conducted searches for oil and exploratory drilling. The next section of the shelf, where 15% of the reserves are located, is already the coast of the Pacific Ocean, from the north of Kamchatka to the south of Sakhalin. True, we will see oil rigs only in northern Sakhalin, where oil has been produced since 1927. The geology of the shelf off the island follows the geology of the land. It would be more accurate to say that only on northern Sakhalin the ancient shelf has “slightly dried out”. Some fields on the Sakhalin shelf have almost crawled out onto land. Offshore fields, the area and reserves of which are many times larger than onshore ones, stretch along the entire eastern coast of Sakhalin and go north. Some of the deposits were discovered back in the 70s of the last century. The projected recoverable reserves of the Sakhalin shelf are more than 1.5 billion tons (recoverable reserves account for approximately 30% of those discovered). For comparison: the whole of Western Siberia has 9.1 billion tons of proven reserves. The first commercial oil on the Russian shelf was obtained on Sakhalin in 1998, but this is a different story.

It remains to look at the shelf of the Caspian, Black, Azov and Baltic seas, although its length is only a small part of the Russian one, and it is barely visible on the map. It is estimated that the Russian part of the Caspian shelf contains about 13% of all its reserves (the main ones belong to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan). On the Caucasian coast of the Black Sea, oil can be found in its deep-water (1.5-2 km depth) part and quite a bit in the Azov Sea. But the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov is small and divided between the two countries. Ukraine is producing gas there.

And finally, completing the journey across the seas, let's look at the Baltic. The Baltic Sea is small compared to the seas of the Arctic Ocean, and there are many states, but here, in the Kaliningrad region, not far from the coast, near the Curonian Spit, in 1983 oil was discovered at shallow depths. In 2004, its commercial production began. The reserves by Russian standards are not so large - less than 1 million tons, but the production conditions are much lighter than in the Arctic Ocean. The presence of oil in this place is not a surprise; it has been produced nearby for a long time, and there are more reserves.

FIRST STEPS IN DEVELOPING THE NORTHERN SHELF

In the world, 35% of oil and about 32% of gas are produced on the shelf and coastal waters. The beginning was laid with the drilling of the first offshore wells 50 years ago in the shallow and warm Gulf of Mexico.

Europe also has experience in developing the riches of the seabed. For more than 30 years, Norway and England have been producing from offshore platforms in the North Sea, and they receive so much oil that the total export of these two countries is comparable to that of Russia. Thanks to oil production, Norway ranks first in terms of living standards. True, production here is not carried out on the shelf, but on the bottom of the North Sea, which has a different geological structure. By the way, production is carried out not only in the economic zones of these countries, but also outside them in accordance with the international agreement on the division of the seabed between the adjoining countries.

It is expected that in Russia the share of offshore hydrocarbon production by 2020 will amount to 4% of the total volume. There are considerable reserves on the shelf, but it is much more difficult and expensive to develop them. We need huge investments that will begin to give returns and profits no earlier than in five years, or even ten. For example, for the development of the marine resources of the Caspian, total investments over ten years will exceed $ 60 billion. In the Arctic Ocean, the cost will be even higher due to the harsh ice conditions.

Nevertheless, Russia has begun to develop its offshore wealth. Only 15% of the shelf hydrocarbon reserves are in the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk. But it was here, near Sakhalin, in 1998 that a group of foreign companies for the first time in Russia began commercial oil production from the shelf. In 2004, industrial oil was also produced on the shelf of the Baltic Sea.

Two largest fields are planned for development on the shelf of the Pechora Sea. The first one is the oil Prirazlomnoye, discovered in 1989 and located 60 km from the coast, where the depth is about 20 m. The name is not accidental - the field is located next to the same deep fault. Its reserves are 74 million tons of recoverable oil and 8.6 billion cubic meters of gas. At the current level of technology in Russia, only about 30% of the discovered oil reserves are extracted, in Western countries - up to 40%.

There is already a project for the development of Prirazlomnoye. Licenses for its development were obtained russian companies... A huge ice-resistant platform with a total weight of about 110 thousand tons will be installed in the center with a support base measuring 126ґ126 m, consisting of four supermodules. They will house 14 oil storage tanks with a capacity of 120 thousand tons. The residential module is designed for 200 people. These are just a few impressive figures that allow you to imagine the scale of only one structure, but a whole complex is required. A platform of such an ice class has not yet been manufactured in the world. The conditions for mining in these parts are too harsh: after all, navigation along the Northern Sea Route lasts for several months, and even then, accompanied by icebreakers. In addition, the ice conditions are different every year, and at the beginning of navigation, the question arises: how best to pass through the ice in the Novaya Zemlya area - to go around the archipelago from the north or to wade through the straits in the middle. But all-year-round production from the shelf is planned. The construction of the platform began in 1998 at the largest plant near Arkhangelsk, which had previously built submarines.

Following the Prirazlomnoye, the Shtokman gas field, the largest in the Arctic and in the world, will most likely be developed. It was discovered in 1988 on the shelf of the Barents Sea, 650 km northeast of Murmansk. The sea depth there is 320-340 m. The reserves of the Shtokman field are estimated at 3.2 trillion m3 of gas, which is commensurate with the fields in Yamal. The total volume of capital investments in the project will amount to $ 18.7 billion, with a payback period of 13 years. A project is being prepared for the construction of the largest plant for the liquefaction of natural gas: then it can be transported overseas, to Canada and America.

Until recently, it was believed that ocean oil is concentrated precisely on the shelf, but over the past 10-15 years, giant deposits were discovered at sea depths of 2-4 km. This changes the established understanding of the places where hydrocarbons accumulate on the ocean floor. This is not a shelf, but a continental slope. Such deposits are already being successfully developed, for example, in Brazil.

Why we have lagged behind other countries in the development of the shelf can probably be explained. We have large reserves on land, so far they are sufficient both for ourselves and for export. And offshore production costs about three times more. Domestic companies are in no hurry to enter such a harsh shelf: now, with high oil prices, it is more profitable to invest in already developed fields. But what are we going to do when the readily available oil runs out? How not to be late with the development of their own wealth.

The editors would like to thank Sevmorneftegaz CJSC for providing a number of illustrations.

In order for hydrocarbon production on the shelf to exceed the planned indicators, oil and gas companies will have to ensure industrial cooperation domestic suppliers of the necessary equipment.

The Russian shelf has the largest area in the world - more than 6 million sq. km and contains over 110 billion tons of oil and gas resources in equivalent fuel equivalent. The main hydrocarbon resources (about 70%) are concentrated in the bowels of the Barents, Pechora, Kara and Okhotsk seas. At the same time, gas and condensate prevail in the bowels of the Barents and Kara Seas, oil in the Pechora Sea, and oil and gas in the Okhotsk Sea.

According to Russia's long-term energy strategy, oil production on the continental shelf should increase to 50 million tons by 2035 against about 17 million tons in 2015, including 30–35 million tons of Arctic oil.

Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Kirill MOLODTSOV, speaking at the Offshore Marintec Russia conference, said that the development of the shelf is carried out under 123 licenses for geological study, exploration and production of hydrocarbons.

- All companies - Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Rosneft, LUKOIL - are actively developing the existing license areas ... At the moment, we expect that in 2016 Russia will increase oil production by more than 2.2 million tons and thus we will outstrip growth rate of average production in Russian Federation, let's add more than 11% of production, - he says.

If we discuss the Arctic shelf as a promising area for the extraction of hydrocarbon raw materials, then the flagship project is the development of the Prirazlomnoye oil field located in the Pechora Sea 60 km from the coast. Its recoverable reserves amount to over 70 million tons. At the Prirazlomnoye field, a new grade of oil, ARCO, is being produced from an offshore ice-resistant stationary platform, which first entered the world market in spring 2014.

- To date, more than 17 million barrels of oil have been shipped from Prirazlomnaya, 8 wells have been drilled (4 production, 3 injection and 1 absorption). Oil is shipped using ice-class tankers, says the head of the business development and government regulation on the shelf of Gazprom Neft PJSC Sergey MATROSOV. - The advantages of ARCO oil in comparison with other grades are high bitumen content and low coke residue. The oil is very well suited for deep processing at refineries in the North-Western part of Europe.

As Sergey Matrosov noted, in addition to the development of the Prirazlomnoye oil field, Gazprom Neft's offshore portfolio includes three projects in the Pechora, Barents and East Siberian Seas that are in the exploration stage. In particular, in the Pechora Sea, this is the Dolginskoye field at depths of 21–46 m and the North-Western license area at depths of up to 187 m.

“We are combining them into a single project, as we expect broad opportunities for synergy between the two sites, both in the field of exploration work and in the field of development, transportation of hydrocarbons and the use of a common ground infrastructure,” explained a Gazprom Neft representative.

In the Barents Sea, the company operates in the Heisovsky license area with an area of \u200b\u200bover 83,000 sq. km, and in the East Siberian Sea - in the North-Wrangel area, which, according to Gazprom Neft, has a huge potential for hydrocarbon production.

- So, on the area of \u200b\u200bthe site, which is 117,000 square meters. km, the volume of geological resources is tentatively estimated at more than 3 billion tons of oil equivalent. The depth of the sea varies from 20 to 90 m, which makes it possible to equip the field at the current level of development of relevant technologies, ”said Sergei Matrosov, adding that Gazprom Neft considers the development of the Arctic shelf as one of the strategic areas of activity.

Production geography

The same priorities are followed by Gazprom, which currently holds 38 licenses for geological exploration, exploration and production of hydrocarbons on the Russian shelf.

- Gazprom is considering the development of the shelf in full compliance with the national maritime doctrine, and the interests pursued by Russia fully meet the objectives and goals of the company ... We carry out the main work in the Arctic, in the Kamchatka region, on Sakhalin and in the Ob-Taz Bay (Kara Sea in area of \u200b\u200bthe Yamal Peninsula. - Ed. note), - said Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Gazprom Valery GOLUBEV. Among the most interesting objects he named, in particular, the Yuzhno-Lunskoye field in the Kirinskoye prospective site of the Sakhalin-3 project in the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk, as well as the Kamennomysskoye-more field in the water area of \u200b\u200bthe Ob Bay.

As Gazprom reported in September, during geological exploration at the Kirinsky prospect of the Sakhalin-3 project in the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk, drilling of a prospecting and appraisal well at the Yuzhno-Lunskaya structure resulted in a significant inflow of gas and condensate, which indicates the discovery of a new field. According to Valery Golubev, an exploration well in this field "gave very good results." In turn, a member of the board of Gazprom Vsevolod CHEREPANOV, quoted by RIA Novosti, told reporters in the fall that the gas reserves of the Yuzhno-Lunskoye field, which belongs to the category of gas condensate, according to preliminary data, amount to 40 billion cubic meters. m.

According to the materials of Gazprom Dobycha Yamburg, the Kamennomysskoye-more field, named after the nearby village of Mys Kamenny, was discovered in 2000. The reserves amount to 535 billion cubic meters. m of natural gas. The installation of the ice-resistant platform and the installation of gas pipelines are planned for 2018–2019; commercial production will begin approximately in 6–7 years. In the future, several fields in the vicinity of Yamburg (Kamennomysskoye-Sea, Severo-Kamennomysskoye, Semakovskoye, Tota-Yakhinskoye, Antipayutinskoye, Chugoryakhinskoye, Obskoye, Parusovoye, Severo-Parusovoye) will be developed by an interconnected technological complex with gas transit through the existing facilities at the Yamburgskoye field.

In addition to state-owned companies, LUKOIL is quite active on the Russian shelf, developing, in particular, fields in the Caspian, Baltic and Azov seas.

- The first large-scale geological exploration work began back in 1995 on the shelf of the Caspian Sea, later there were work in the Baltic, in the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov ... In the Caspian region, 9 fields were discovered in 1995-2015 (including LUKOIL's shares in joint ventures) with reserves of 1.1 billion tons of standard fuel - about 50 to 50 for oil and gas. Also, promising structures with resources of about 500 million tons have been prepared. Accumulated production already amounts to 6.5 million tons, investments in geological exploration alone - 46 billion rubles, - Vice President of PJSC LUKOIL Ilya MANDRIK said at a conference in St. Petersburg.

One of the most successful projects he considers the development of the Filanovsky field in the Caspian Sea with an investment volume of about 87 billion rubles. As Ilya Mandrik recalled, the first two wells were put into operation in this field with a design oil production of 6 million tons in September.

- In September, the first wells were put into trial operation, work is underway to determine additional opportunities, optimal well conditions, and run-in technological equipment... In fact, the first stage has already been implemented, including onshore facilities ... More than 3,000 people and over 100 enterprises were involved in the development of this field, ”he said, adding that Russian companies were the main contractors.

Russian equipment in priority

Involvement of domestic producers in the implementation of offshore projects is considered necessary not only by LUKOIL, but also by other companies involved in the extraction of hydrocarbons. According to Valery Golubev, without industrial cooperation russian enterprises not to be dispensed with, for example, in the construction of an ice-resistant platform for the Kamennomysskoye-more field.

“Here we propose to apply industrial cooperation between factories existing in Russia today,” he says. According to him, the construction of subsea complexes for the production of hydrocarbon raw materials is one of the priority directionswhere it is necessary to intensify work in the field of import substitution.

According to Valery Golubev, Gazprom has already formed a specialized structure that deals with projects in the field of import substitution in order to ensure the participation of Russian industrial enterprises in the manufacture of equipment required for subsea production on the shelf.

- A special enterprise was created, which was named "Gazprom 335". It should be the main consolidator for the development of technological requirements, consideration of the possibilities of Russian production facilities ... The immediate tasks are the formation of a list of critical equipment, all the necessary technological maps, measures to minimize technological risks, a scenario of deep localization, and the like, ”he said.

In the medium term, Valery Golubev noted, the new structure will become a center of competence to support the development and production of equipment, and then will perform the functions of service maintenance.

- Thus, we laid the foundation for the creation of industrial production in Russia of subsea production complexes. The production base existing in the country today and a certain will (of the state), as well as the potential of Gazprom, quite allow organizing this work, ”the deputy chairman of the board of the gas concern is sure.

For their part, federal agencies strongly support the development of import substitution in the field of hydrocarbon production on the shelf.

“These are applied, everyday tasks, and the federal authorities, together with companies, will continue to actively solve them,” promises Kirill Molodtsov. According to him, today more than 1.3 billion rubles have been allocated for research and development work, which are associated, in particular, with the improvement of geological exploration technologies, as well as with the optimization of systems for ensuring sustainable development of deposits, including in the Arctic zone. According to Kirill Molodtsov, under consideration federal bodies the authorities also have more than 20 research projects aimed at solving issues of developing production technologies, equipping, building production platforms, building ships, which, in our understanding, in 2017 may qualify for funding in the amount of more than 3 billion rubles.

Rosneft and Gazprom are postponing geological exploration and the start of production at 31 offshore oil and gas fields for a period of two to 12 years. As a result, plans for oil production in the Arctic may decrease by almost 30%

Arctic, research expedition (Photo: Valery Melnikov / RIA Novosti)

Less oil from the shelf

Rosnedra agreed to Rosneft and Gazprom to postpone exploration and start production at 31 sites on the shelf of the Arctic, Far Eastern and southern seas, according to the agency's materials (RBC has a copy). At the request of Rosneft, the plans for geological exploration at 19 sites have been adjusted, and at 12 more for the needs of Gazprom and its subsidiary Gazprom Neft. We are talking about the postponement of the timing and volume of seismic exploration by an average of two to five years, the timing of well drilling by an average of three years for each case.

The most significant postponements of the commissioning of the largest fields - two blocks of Gazprom's Shtokman field will be commissioned no earlier than 2025 instead of the earlier planned 2016. And the Dolginskoye field of Gazprom Neft with reserves of 200 million tons of oil equivalent - from 2019 to 2031. The largest number of sites where company plans have been revised are located in the Pechora Sea (nine sites), eight in the Barents Sea, seven in the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk, four in the Kara Sea, two in the Black Sea and one in the East Siberian Sea. For the rest of the fields, the dates for the start of production are not indicated at all: they will be determined based on the completion of geological exploration.

An official representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources confirmed to RBC that Rosnedra at the request of companiesupdated licenses on the shelf. “Changes are made when it is documented. First of all, we are talking about changes in the economic and geological conditions of projects, including a slight change in the timing of drilling wells ", -nikolai Gudkov, head of the press service of the Ministry of Natural Resources, told RBC.At the same time, the companies are overfulfilling their obligations for offshore seismic exploration, he says.

A representative of Gazprom Neft told RBC that the postponement of the start of production at the Dolginskoye field was due to the need for additional geological exploration, since gas inflow was detected, as well as for economic reasons. Representatives of Rosneft and Gazprom did not respond to inquiries from RBC.

By 2035, the volume of oil production on the Arctic shelf will amount to 31-35 million tons, Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov said at the Arctic-2016 conference in February. Earlier, the draft Energy Strategy discussed reaching 35-36 million tons in the Arctic by this date, and in general on the shelf - 50 million tons per year. In addition, by 2035, at least 10% of all gas in the country should be produced on the shelf (total production in the country will be 821-885 billion cubic meters), the document says. In 2015, the companies produced 18.8 million tons of oil on the Russian shelf, 16 million tons of which - on the shelf of the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk, mainly at the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects. And on the Arctic shelf, only 800 thousand tons were produced at the Prirazlomnoye field (owned by Gazprom Neft).

Due to the postponement of the development of offshore fields, production in the Arctic by 2030 year will amount to only 13 million tons, which is 27.8% less than plannedoval volume (18 million), calculatedvasily Bogoyavlensky, head of the Shelf laboratory, deputy director of the Institute of Oil and Gas Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences. As a result, oil production on the Russian Arctic shelf in the next 10-15 years will not be able to compensate for the decline in production at existing onshore fields, he told RBC.

Rosneft and Gazprom shelf

According to the Subsoil Law, licenses for offshore operations are issued only to state-owned companies with relevant experience, namely Gazprom and Rosneft. According to the corporate magazine, Gazprom owns 33 licenses for the use of the subsoil of the continental shelf of Russia, and four more licenses from its subsidiary Gazprom Neft as an operator. According to the company, Rosneft has 55 offshore licenses.

"Distant Perspective"

“By the end of 2025, on the Barents Sea shelf, Gazprom is to complete 20 thousand linear kilometers of 2D seismic exploration and 9 thousand square kilometers. km - 3D, as well as to drill 12 exploration wells, - says an article from the corporate magazine "Gazprom" (RBC has a copy). -Gazprom's specialists believe that it is not only practically impossible to master such volumes, but also impractical. It is obvious that drilling in the areas in the Barents Sea, based on the current market conditions, is a rather distant prospect. " The fact is that since the summer of 2014, Brent oil prices have dropped fourfold (in January 2016 they reached a minimum of $ 27 per barrel) and have not fully recovered - now oil is traded at about $ 52 per barrel.

However, last year, Gazprom did not completely curtail geological exploration on the shelf, but significantly reduced its pace, especially in terms of drilling, follows from the corporate magazine. By order of Gazprom, only 6.7 thousand km of seismic surveys were carried out in 2015, although over the past few years 34 thousand km in total have been surveyed. The increase in proven hydrocarbon reserves following the results of onshore and offshore geological exploration, according to Gazprom, in 2015 reached 582 million tons of fuel equivalent against the plan of 536 million tons.

Rosneft is still developing the shelf more intensively, but it drills wells only where it works together with foreign partners. This summer, the company intends to drill two wells in the Magadan-1 field in the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk together with Statoil. But drilling in the Kara Sea at Universitetskaya-1 was postponed for indefinite termbecause the partner of the state company Exxon cannot participate in the project due to the sanctions.

Earlier than 2025, it will be more likely to start oil production in those offshore fields of Rosneft, where the company works with Western or Asian partners: in the Tuapse trough and the West Black Sea area (Exxon and Eni), Magadan-1 (Statoil), Universitetskaya (Exxon ), The Medynsko-Varandeysky area in the Barents Sea (CNPC) and the Severo-Veninskoye field in the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk (Sinopec). Participation in financing, access to technology depends on partners. Some of the projects have been frozen due to sanctions, says the interlocutor of RBC in Rosneft.

The most expensive and laborious part of offshore operations is drilling wells. The average cost of drilling one well on the Arctic shelf is the Dean of the Faculty of Geology, Russian State University of Oil and Gas. Sergey Lobusev estimated Gubkin at $ 200-500 million. For example, the cost of drilling the Universitetskaya-1 well of Rosneft in the Kara Sea to open the Pobeda field exceeded $ 700 million. installation. And the US and EU sanctions prohibit providing Russia with technologies and services for drilling to a depth of 130 m.

According to Aleksey Belogoryev, Deputy Director for Energy at the Institute of Energy and Finance, in the Energy Strategy until 2035 and the General Scheme for the Development of the Russian Oil Industry until 2035, the previous plans for oil and gas production on the shelf will be revised downward. According to the expert, it makes no sense to expect the start of oil and gas production at new offshore fields before 2025. “It will be economically unprofitable if oil prices are below $ 90 per barrel. In addition, there are no appropriate technologies for drilling in the Arctic, and access to the western ones is difficult due to sanctions, ”he said. According to the expert, the drop in oil production on the shelf can be replaced by more intensive geological exploration onshore and an increase in the oil recovery factor.

“Now, due to low prices for oil and gas, offshore development has slowed down all over the world. Companies are freezing offshore operations. For us, this opportunistic delay plays into our hands. We have lagged behind with the deployment of our shipbuilding cluster in the Far East, ”TASS quotes Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin speaking at a meeting of the Arctic Commission in early June.