Problems of development of the Russian Arctic shelf. Struggle for the continental shelf State regulation of the development of the Arctic shelf
11.06.12 / 20:32
Next year, 2013, should be a year of big changes for Russia on the Arctic front. The Coordinating Council is now working Russian Academy Sciences and the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use Russian Federation, which should prepare new documents to determine the outer limit of the continental shelf in the Arctic.
He is leading the project in three areas: refinement of the bottom topography, geophysical profiles, and studies of the evolution of the Arctic, taking into account paleomagnetic and radioisotope dating of rocks. Scientists see their task as follows: to prove that a piece of the bottom, which is also called Arctida, has existed for a long time, at least since the Permian time, and is an integral part of the continent. And, therefore, Russia will retain its leading position in the development of the Arctic.
Clash of the Titans
What is the Arctic space? This is the North Pole and the outskirts of Eurasia and North America. This is the Arctic Ocean and a little of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. What is the Arctic shelf? This is a huge shelf area, passing along the margins of the Kara, Chukchi, Barents, East Siberian and Laptev seas.
The territory of the shelf runs mainly in the Arctic Ocean and along the islands of continental origin.
Now the Arctic shelf for Russia is the most promising direction oil and gas development. But we should not forget about the countries whose exclusive economic zones are located in the Arctic. These are the USA, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland.
In the twenties of the last century, the border between the Arctic countries - the USSR, the USA, Canada, Norway and Denmark - was determined very conditionally. The territories where the northern borders of these states passed were assigned to the countries. In those days at Soviet Union had the longest coastline. This determined the largest sector - about a third of the entire area of the Arctic. Since the exact borders of the Arctic territories were not assigned to the countries, Sweden, Iceland and Finland made claims to the Arctic territories.
At the moment, India, China, South Korea, Germany, Japan. Indeed, according to preliminary data of scientists, the volume of undiscovered oil is approximately 83 billion barrels and natural gas about 1550 trillion. m3. let's make a reservation right away: a significant part of unexplored oil fields is located in the Alaska region and belongs to the United States. But solid reserves of natural gas are located within the Russian maritime border. Scientists suggest that drilling will be carried out at a depth of more than 500 meters. In addition, more than 200 promising oil and gas facilities have been identified in the Kara, Pechora and Barents Seas.
Representatives of Denmark, Russia, USA, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland in 1996 signed a declaration establishing the Arctic Council. Members of the Arctic Council are committed to protecting the unique nature of the northern polar zone and ensuring sustainable development polar regions.
At present, the legal regime provided for by the 1982 UN Maritime Convention operates in the Arctic. The document spells out the boundaries of the exclusive economic zone of states, which end at a distance of 200 nautical miles from the coastline. But if the results of geological studies prove that the continental shelf is more than 200 miles, then the distance is increased to 350 nautical miles.
First "pancake"
In 2001, Russia made an attempt to apply to the UN Commission to secure the rights to a section of the shelf, including the Lomonosov and Mendeleev ridges. we are talking about clearly and logically proving that the Lomonosov Ridge is a structural continuation of the Siberian continental platform. This area is very rich in hydrocarbons. However, the UN inspectors rejected the application, as little information was provided. The UN asked for additional arguments to make a decision.
Therefore, Russia will have to prove that the Lomonosov and Mendeleev sea ridges are a continuation of the Russian continental shelf. Consequently, the border of the exclusive economic zone will increase and our country will get an area of 1.2 million square kilometers, which is rich in energy resources.
In order to argue its right to expand the boundaries of the Arctic continental shelf, in 2013 Russia will submit two types of data to the UN Commission on the Law of the Sea: geological samples of the bedrocks of the ridges and geophysical data based on the results of seismoacoustic profiling.
However, it is expected that Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland will also apply to the UN special commission to expand the boundaries of the Arctic shelf in order to obtain the right to develop oil and gas fields. Experts assess Canada's chances as high, arguing that it is a worthy and strong competitor to Russia.
Offshore work becomes more difficult, but continues
This summer, the diesel-electric icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn will go on reconnaissance work. Initially, it was planned to send the research vessel "Akademik Fedorov" and the nuclear icebreaker FSUE "Rosatomflot" to the state corporation "Rosatom". But it turned out to be expensive. Now "Kapitan Dranitsyn" is being re-equipped to be able to carry out drilling work on the Arctic shelf. It is planned that in tandem with the icebreaker "Kapitan Dranitsyn" another small icebreaker will go, which will be equipped with a seismic streamer 300 meters long. With the help of a spit, a seismic survey of the structure of bottom sediments will be carried out.
Recall that the main customer for exploration work on the Arctic shelf is the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Rosnedra. In February of this year, Sevmorgeo received a license to explore the Mendeleev Ridge in order to collect the necessary material for Russia's application to the UN Commission on the Law of the Sea in order to determine the boundaries of the continental shelf.
The work on the shelf is complicated by the fact that there is a large difference in depths, so drilling of bottom rock material will have to be carried out at a depth of 350 meters to 2.6 thousand meters. The members of the group will have to find places where bedrocks come out to the bottom surface, and this is not simple task. It should be noted that the drilling equipment and the methodology used by Sevmorgeo have proven themselves well in operations in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
The expedition starts on July 1st. It will be attended by experts from many industries. 50 days will be allotted for the study period. Another 35 days are allotted for seismic exploration, and 15 days for drilling. If, as a result of the study, scientists discover granite, then this means that the shelf is continental, and if they find basalt, this means that the territory is marine. Whether the researchers will disappoint the Russians or not, we will see, and soon.
It is obvious that the Arctic Ocean is rapidly losing its ice cover and is becoming an attraction for industrialists. the scale of his wealth excites the imagination of oil producers. And this means that Russia will have more and more competitors to prove the fairness of its claims every year.
On March 29, Canada will host the second ministerial meeting of the five Arctic coastal states (Russia, Norway, Denmark, the USA and Canada). The agenda includes issues on the problems of the continental shelf, climate change, preservation of fragile Arctic ecosystems, development of the resources of the Arctic Ocean, development scientific cooperation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in the meeting.
The Arctic (from the Greek arktikos - northern), the northern polar region of the Earth, including the outskirts of the continents of Eurasia and North America, almost the entire Arctic Ocean with islands (except for the coastal islands of Norway), as well as the adjacent parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. The southern border of the Arctic coincides with the southern border of the tundra zone. The area is about 27 million square meters. km, sometimes the Arctic is limited from the south by the Arctic Circle (66º33 \ "N); in this case, an area of \u200b\u200b21 million sq. km. According to the features of the relief in the Arctic, they distinguish: a shelf with islands of continental origin and adjacent margins of the continents and the Arctic basin.
Shelf (English shelf) - continental shelf, continental shelf, leveled part of the underwater margin of the mainland, adjacent to land and characterized by a common with it geological structure. Shelf boundaries - sea or ocean coast, etc. edge (a sharp bend in the surface of the seabed - the transition to the continental slope).
According to the names of the marginal Arctic seas, the Arctic shelf is quite clearly divided into the Barents Sea, Kara, Laptev and East Siberian-Chukotka Seas. A significant part of the latter also adjoins the shores of North America.
The Barents Sea shelf over the past decades has become one of the most studied in terms of geological and geomorphological terms. In structural and geological terms, this is a Precambrian platform with a thick cover of sedimentary rocks of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic. On the outskirts of the Barents Sea, the bottom is composed of ancient folded complexes of various ages (near the Kola Peninsula and northeast of Svalbard - Archean-Proterozoic, off the coast of Novaya Zemlya - Hercynian and Caledonian).
The shelf of the Kara Sea is structurally and geologically heterogeneous, its southern part is mainly a continuation of the West Siberian Hercynian plate. In the northern part, the shelf crosses the submerged link of the Ural-Novaya Zemlya meganticlinorium (a complex mountain-folded structure), the structures of which continue in northern Taimyr and in the Severozemelsky archipelago.
The predominant type of relief on the Laptev shelf is a marine accumulative plain, along the coasts, as well as on individual banks, abrasion-accumulative plains.
The accumulative leveled relief continues on the bottom of the East Siberian Sea, in some places on the bottom of the sea (near the New Siberian Islands, northwest of the Bear Islands) a ridge relief is clearly expressed. The bottom of the Chukchi Sea is dominated by flooded denudation plains (flattened surfaces formed as a result of the destruction of ancient hills or mountains). The southern part of the sea floor is a deep structural depression filled with loose sediments and, probably, Meso-Cenozoic effusives. The shelf along the northern coast of Alaska is not wide and is a denudation to a large extent thermal abrasion plain. Near the northern margins of the Canadian archipelago and Greenland, the shelf is "overdeep" and, in contrast to the Chukotka shelf, is replete with relict glacial landforms.
The central part is the Arctic Basin, an area of deep-water basins (up to 5527 m) and underwater ridges. Large orographic structures of the Arctic basin are the Mendeleev, Lomonosov and Gakkel ridges. Around these ridges are deep-water basins, the most significant of them are the Canadian, Makarov, Amundsen and Nansen.
The discovery of the Lomonosov Ridge by Soviet scientists is outstanding geographical discovery our century. This large uplift of the bottom, from 60 to 200 km wide, stretching for almost 1800 km from the New Siberian Islands, across the North Pole to Ellesmere Island, divides the Arctic Ocean into two parts, sharply different in structure earth's crust and regime of water masses.
This gigantic underwater bridge"Connects the continental platforms of Asia and America. Its height reaches 3300 m from the Pacific Ocean and 3700 m in the opposite direction. The smallest depth so far discovered above the ridge is 954 m.
The Mendeleev Ridge, the second major uplift of the ocean floor, is located east of the Lomonosov Ridge. Initially, this name meant a vast uplift with a minimum depth of 1234 m, extending for 1500 km from the area of Wrangel Island towards the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is less dissected and has gentler slopes than the Lomonosov Ridge.
In the central part of the ridge, a gap was discovered in the form of an underwater valley with depths up to 2700 m. Subsequently, parts of the ridge lying on both sides of the underwater valley were given different names. The name of the Mendeleev Ridge was preserved only for the part that gravitates towards our country, and the rest of the ridge began to be called the Alpha Rise (after the name of the American drifting station that worked in this area of the Arctic Ocean).
The Gakkel Ridge is located on the other side of the Lomonosov Ridge and has a length of more than 1000 km. It consists of several chains of cone-shaped mountains. An underwater rise 400 m high is called the mountain of Lenin Komsomol.
The most remarkable thing is that these numerous underwater uplifts are of volcanic origin, so unusual for the Arctic Basin.
Between the Lomonosov and Gakkel ridges there is the Amundsen Basin with a depth of more than 4000 m and a fairly even bottom topography. On the other side of the Gakkel Ridge is the Nansen Basin with an average depth of about 3500 m. The deepest point of the ocean was found here - 5449 m.
To the east of the Alpha Rise and the Mendeleev Ridge is the Canadian Basin, the largest in the Arctic Basin, with the greatest depth of 3838 m. Lately several more uplifts and depressions were discovered in the Arctic Basin.
In modern international law the division of the Arctic into 5 sectors is fixed. In the 1920s, a number of coastal states (the USSR, Norway, Denmark, which owns Greenland, the United States and Canada) put forward the concept of "polar sectors", according to which all lands and islands located within the polar sector of the corresponding state, as well as permanent ice fields , soldered to the shore, are part of the state territory. The polar sector is understood as the space, the base of which is the northern border of the state, the top is the North Pole, and the lateral borders are the meridians connecting the North Pole with extreme points northern border of the territory of this state. The largest country, the USSR, also got the largest sector - about a third of the entire area of the Arctic shelf. These areas are not under the sovereignty of states and are not part of state territories, but each coastal state has sovereign rights to explore and develop natural resources adjacent to it the continental shelf and the economic maritime zone, as well as the protection of the natural environment of these areas.
The scope of these rights is determined by international law, in particular, the 1958 Convention on the Continental Shelf and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, ratified by Russia in 1997. The convention gives maritime states the right to establish an exclusive economic zone 200 miles wide from the coastline. If the shelf continues beyond these borders, the country can extend its border to 350 miles. Within these limits, the state gains control over resources, including oil and gas.
Today, the leading world powers have prepared for the redistribution of the Arctic spaces. Russia became the first Arctic state to submit an application to the UN in 2001 to establish the outer limit of the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean. Russia's application involves clarifying the territory of the Arctic shelf with an area of more than a million square kilometers.
In the summer of 2007, the Russian polar expedition Arktika-2007 started, the purpose of which was to study the shelf of the Arctic Ocean.
The researchers set out to prove that the underwater ridges of Lomonosov and Mendeleev, which stretch to Greenland, can be geologically a continuation of the Siberian continental platform, this will allow Russia to lay claim to the vast territory of the Arctic Ocean of 1.2 million square meters. kilometers.
The expedition on August 1 reached North Pole. 2 august deep sea habitable vehicles"Mir-1" and "Mir-2" descended to the bottom of the ocean near the North Pole and carried out a complex of oceanographic, hydrometeorological and ice studies. For the first time in history, a unique experiment was carried out to take samples of soil and flora from a depth of 4261 meters. In addition, the flag of the Russian Federation was hoisted at the North Pole at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the time, the results of the expedition to the Arctic should form the basis of Russia's position when deciding whether this part of the Arctic shelf belongs to it.
Russia's revised application for the Arctic shelf will be ready by 2013.
After the Russian expedition, the topic of belonging to the continental shelf began to be actively discussed by the leading Arctic powers.
On September 13, 2008, the US-Canadian expedition launched, which included the US Coast Guard Arctic icebreaker Healy and Canada's heaviest Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St. Laurent.
The purpose of the mission was to collect information that will help determine the extent of the US continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean.
On August 7, 2009, the second US-Canadian Arctic expedition started. On the US Coast Guard icebreaker Healy and the Canadian Coast Guard ship Louis S. St-Laurent, scientists from the two countries collected data on seabed and the continental shelf, where the richest deposits of oil and gas are supposed to be. The expedition worked in areas from northern Alaska to the Mendeleev Ridge, as well as east of the Canadian archipelago. The scientists took photos and videos, and also collected materials on the state of the sea and the shelf.
An increasing number of states are showing interest in participating in the active development of the Arctic zone. This is due to global climate change, opening up new opportunities for establishing regular shipping in the Arctic Ocean, as well as greater access to the minerals of this vast region.
Promising water areas account for up to 40% of the area of the seas of the East of Russia (25% on land). The hydrocarbon resources of the water areas are more than twice those on land, even taking into account the vast oil and gas regions of Yakutia.
Hydrocarbon potential of the Western Arctic shelf
Since the end of the 70s of the last century, the most serious measures have been taken in the USSR to search for deposits on the continental shelf. For a decade, the efficiency of geological exploration in the Sea of Okhotsk, Barents and Kara Seas has surpassed the best world achievements. Particularly impressive results have been achieved in the Arctic: in the Barents, Pechora and Kara Seas, not only more than 100 oil and gas prospects have been identified, but 11 fields have also been discovered.
Among them are four unique gas reserves with condensate in the Barents and Kara Seas, two large gas fields in the Barents Sea, and a large oil and oil and gas condensate field in the Pechora Sea. In this area, in the most last years four more oil fields were discovered, and two large gas fields in the Ob Bay. According to the official estimates of the Ministry of Railways, the Barents and Kara Seas account for about 80% of the initial potential hydrocarbon resources of the entire Russian continental shelf, the potential reserves of which amount to 90 billion tons of standard fuel (13 billion tons of oil and 52 trillion cubic meters of gas).
The first very hasty and over-optimistic forecasts for the development of fields on the Arctic shelf were made after the receipt in 1982 of an industrial inflow of oil at the Peschanoozerskoye field on Kolguev Island, and a year later - a gas fountain on the Murmansk structure in the Barents Sea. Declarative statements and proposals on gas supply were sent to the government and party bodies Murmansk region, Karelia and Leningrad region, and high levels oil production at the Peschanoozerskoye field and its probable export. In these "relationships", the estimates of the identified reserves were repeatedly overestimated, since the excitement was not initiated by those who were directly related to the discoveries and realistically assessed the first results (their opinion was ignored). Because of this hype, a commission from the fuel bureau under the Central Committee of the CPSU even went to Kolguev, after the visit of which a road loading of oil from the Peschanoozerskoye field was arranged. The promised reserves of the two "first-born" have not been confirmed, but speculative declarations about the development of the Murmansk gas field have been occasionally resumed until recently.
With the development of the Shtokman and Prirazlomnoye deposits, they began to associate the most rosy prospects and socio-economic consequences. According to the feasibility study (FS) adopted in the middle of the last decade, oil production at Prirazlomnoye could have been started in 1999. According to the Shtokman project, back in the Soviet years, an international consortium was created with the participation of the Ministry of Oil Industry and large foreign oil companies - Conoco (USA), Norsk Hydro (Norway), Neste, now Fortum (Finland), intending to start gas production before 2000.
It should be noted that this is the largest offshore field known in the world in terms of explored gas reserves. Field equipment and its development require the solution of complex technical and technological problems due to sea depths exceeding 300 meters, severe ice conditions and a distance of more than 550 kilometers from the Murmansk coast.
The results of exploration work on the shelf in the Western Arctic can be considered fantastic without exaggeration. In the last 25-30 years, they have not been equal in other offshore areas of the world, but the Leningradskoye and Rusanovskoye deposits discovered in the Kara Sea are even larger than the Shtokmanovskoye. True, from the discovery of all these supergiants to their development - "a huge distance"! For various reasons, and in the last decade - also because of the crisis state of the entire economy of the country.
Initially, work on the Arctic shelf was focused on the search, exploration and development of oil fields. The fact is that even with the rapid growth of oil production in the country at the expense of Western Siberia, as a result of a sharp drop in the efficiency of geological exploration, great difficulties arose with the reproduction of proven oil reserves. In the early 1970s, the USSR surpassed the annual production limit of 300 million tons. IN a short time it doubled, but at the same time it became clear that both in the producing regions and in the undeveloped oil-promising territories, the discovery of new oil fields that could be compared in terms of reserves with the giants being developed in Western Siberia and the Volga region is unlikely. But then the task was to bring oil production to 1 billion tons in 20 years, so the development of hydrocarbon resources of the continental shelf, primarily the West Arctic, became one of the most urgent national economic tasks.
In the very first years of work, it became clear that the discovery of large oil fields in the most accessible for development Barents and Kara seas is unlikely, and this was confirmed. After the discovery of gas giants, no gas increments were planned here at all: plans for increasing oil reserves were still "lowered" from above.
Now 17 deposits are known in the Western Arctic. But only two of them can be considered as real objects for exploitation in the foreseeable future - Shtokman and Prirazlomnoye. As for the rest, it is most likely that only the oil fields discovered in the Pechora Sea in the late 1990s can become "satellites" of Prirazlomnoye - a few years after the start of its development and exploration. Even the unique and very large condensate-gas fields in the Barents and Kara Seas are still not very attractive for investment in terms of capital intensity of putting into development. The choice of objects for development is extremely limited, since it is impossible without investments that are commensurate with the annual budget of the country in recent years. For example, the Prirazlomnoye field. According to our classification, this is a large field - at least 75 million tons of recoverable oil reserves. Let me remind you that, according to a feasibility study, its development could have been started two years ago. Today they are called 2004-2005. Problems: The first is the lack of capital investments in field facilities. To start the development of Prirazlomnoye, more than a billion dollars of investment from foreign partners is needed. Of these, at least 20 percent - for the reconstruction of "Sevmashpredpriyatie", which should build technology platforms. So far, the total investment with the participation of both the former and the current partner of Rosshelf has only approached this 20 percent. The second reason is expediency considerations. There are still prerequisites for the discovery of relatively large oil fields in the main producing region of Russia - the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug and in its neighborhood - in the south of Yamal. In the European North, in the northern regions of the Komi Republic and in the Arkhangelsk region, the country's balance sheet includes more than 100 fields with total recoverable reserves of about 1.3 billion tons, of which less than half is being developed, about 15 are prepared for development, and more than 40 are in exploration and in conservation. Given this, the need to develop Prirazlomnoye becomes very doubtful. And according to the mentioned feasibility study, its development was estimated on the verge of profitability. And we can not talk about the contribution to the all-Russian production. At least, it is not provided for in the draft state concept of the energy policy of the Russian Federation until 2020. Yes, and Shtokman gas, according to this project, will appear somewhere after 2010. By 2015, its share may approach 7-8% of the total production in the country.
Insufficient replacement of reserves in both the oil and gas industries already eight years ago put the country on the brink of energy security, but the situation in gas has worsened in recent years.
The reserves of the Shtokman field and its development are not a salvation for the gas industry. The uncontested resource base for the development of gas production in Russia is the explored reserves at the Yamal fields. Recently, scientists from Moscow and Novosibirsk came to the same assessment. The total proven gas reserves on the peninsula are three times greater than those of the Shtokman field, and two-thirds of them are concentrated in three adjacent giant fields - Kharasaveyskoye, Kruzenshternovskoye and Bovanenkovskoye, which are prepared for development. And if their development is started, then the investment attractiveness of the Rusanovsky and Leningradsky gas supergiants in the Kara Sea, located at depths of less than 100 m and only 100-150 km away from Kharasavey, will sharply increase. The recoverable reserves of these deposits are almost twice as large as the reserves of the Shtokman field. There is a very difficult ice situation. But their underwater fishing equipment is a solvable problem. So the total capital intensity of the development of both fields is almost half that of the Shtokman field.
Nevertheless, for 10 years the state has invested about 3 billion dollars in organizational and logistical support for the development of the Barents Sea shelf. A specialized central office was created in the system of the Mingazprom, and it included specialized enterprises in Murmansk, well equipped for work in the Arctic and staffed with trained personnel, with all coastal infrastructure facilities almost completed by 1992.
For the Murmansk region, the development of the Shtokman and Prirazlomnoye deposits is a pie in the sky. And the tit in the fist is something that could be developed both faster and at lower cost. It is advisable to continue exploration on the Kola shelf, where there is a very promising object. This is a zone of reef massifs, on the continuation of which - in the Norwegian part of the Barents Sea - oil was obtained. According to the most conservative estimates, it can be expected that about 150 million tons of recoverable oil reserves can be explored in this zone. In 8-10 years from the start of work on their development, with the organization of oil refining on the Kola coast, the problem of self-sufficiency of the Murmansk region with oil products can be solved.
In order to answer the question once and for all whether the region has the prospect of creating and developing its own oil production with all subsequent socio-economic consequences, it is necessary to carry out accurate seismic surveys in two or three summer seasons and, based on its results, drill and test two or three appraisal wells with a depth of 2 ,6-2.8 km. This does not require billions of dollars. For seismic exploration, one and a half tens of millions are enough. Drilling will require an order of magnitude more, but under the terms of the auction, there will certainly be investors from among the leading Russian oil companies.
As for the problem of development of Arctic shelf resources in general, at the recent V International Conference in St. Petersburg, specially dedicated to its solution, a realistic assessment was made for the first time - this is the task of the entire first half of this century.
Oil production in the Arctic regions and on the shelf of the Russian Federation is planned to exceed 250 million tons per year by 2010, - said Ivan Glumov, then Deputy Minister of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, speaking in St. seas of Russia. He referred to the calculations of specialists from the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, which formed the basis of the program for the rational use of natural resources for the period 2002-2004, approved in August 2001 by the government. million tons of oil and 520 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. In the Nenets autonomous region and on the shelf of the Barents and Kara Seas - about 40 million tons of oil and up to 70 billion cubic meters of gas per year, on the shelf of Sakhalin - about 20 million tons of oil and 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The main volume of work on the shelf will be carried out on the basis of production sharing. This is the most optimistic view of the development of oil and gas production in the Western Arctic.
Reference
Prirazlomnoye field
Prirazlomnoye oil deposit located in the Pechora Sea (south-eastern part of the Barents Sea), 60 km from the coast at a depth of 20 meters. Recoverable oil reserves exceed 70 million tons. However, according to the results of a 3D seismic survey conducted at the field, Russian scientists speak of reserves of 100 million tons.
The Prirazlomnoye field was discovered in 1989 by the Russian association Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka.
The license for the development of the Prirazlomnoye deposit belongs to Rosshelf.
The development of the Prirazlomnoye deposit is expected on the basis of a production sharing agreement.
To implement the project, investments in the minimum amount of $1.3-1.5 billion are required.
Production of industrial oil at the field was planned to start in 2003, however, production is not organized and is unlikely to be carried out in the near future for a number of technical, infrastructural and financial reasons.
Oil is supposed to be extracted from an ice-resistant platform, which is to be built by the Arkhangelsk enterprise Sevmashpredpriyatie and towed to the field. The general designer of the ice-resistant platform is the British company Brown&Root. The main subcontractors are TsKB MT Rubin, TsKB Coral and Sevmashpredpriyatie.
The ice-resistant platform for the development of Prirazlomnoye consists of topside structures weighing 35,000 tons, which will be installed on a caisson weighing 60,000 tons. The caisson will also be used to store produced oil (up to 120,000 tons).
The maximum volume of oil production is planned to be reached in the third year of the field development (5.8 million tons).
Since 1994, the strategic partner of Rosshelf and Gazprom in the development of the Prirazlomnoye field has been the Australian company Broken Hill Propertiary Petroleum (BHP Petroleum), a subsidiary of the diversified holding Broken Hill Propertiary (the main areas of activity are metallurgy, mining, diamonds, chemistry and etc.). However, in January 1999, the Australian company officially announced its withdrawal from the project, stating that the investment required to develop Prirazlomnoye was unjustifiably high compared to other projects the company is involved in.
Meanwhile, some independent Russian observers attribute BHP's exit from the project to problems that the holding faced after financial crisis 1998 in Southeast Asia. In late 1998 - early 1999, BHP Petroleum also refused to participate in projects for the development of a number of hydrocarbon fields in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, and Vietnam.
In March 1999, a strategic partnership agreement was signed between Gazprom and the German concern BASF, which implies the participation of BASF in geological exploration and development of oil and gas fields in Russia through its subsidiary Wintershall.
In July 1999, the Rosshelf company and the World Bank announced the start of public hearings on the Prirazlomnoye field development project, the purpose of which was to determine whether the project complies with the World Bank's requirements for protection environment. Until the end of 1999, three stages of hearings will be held - in Arkhangelsk, Naryan-Mar and Severodvinsk. Based on the results of the hearings, a decision will be made on the further implementation of the project.
In early July, an official representative of the Rosshelf company announced that BASF (Germany), Norsk Hydro and Statoil (Norway) had expressed a desire to become partners of Rosshelf and Gazprom in the Prirazlomnoye field development project.
Hydrocarbon potential of the shelf of the Eastern Arctic and the Far Eastern seas
Promising water areas account for up to 40% of the area of the seas of the East of Russia (25% on land). The hydrocarbon resources of the water areas are more than twice those on land, even taking into account the vast oil and gas regions of Yakutia. Average concentrations of resources in offshore oil and gas basins (20-25 thousand t/km2) significantly exceed the resource density of onshore oil and gas basins (9 thousand t/km2); the bowels of water areas are more promising in relation to liquid hydrocarbons. Differences in the parameters of zonal accumulations of oil and gas, in the size of land and offshore deposits also acquire practical meaning. Thus, resource densities in proven oil and gas accumulation zones on the Sakhalin shelf (Lunskaya, Monginskaya, Ekhabinskaya) reach 1,500 thousand tons/km2, significantly exceeding the indices of territorial zones. The largest offshore fields, both with proven reserves of up to 450 million tons (Lunskoye, Arkutun-Daginskoye, Piltun-Astokhskoye), and predicted reserves of up to 400 million tons of equivalent fuel. surpass the largest onshore deposits discovered in Yakutia - Talkanskoye (89.0 million tons), Sredne-Botuobinskoye (66.5 million tons), Chayandinskoye (33.0 million tons). More than 50 oil and gas fields are expected to be discovered in the Far Eastern and Northeastern seas, with resources of more than 50 and 30 million tons of fuel equivalent, respectively. and about 100 - more than 30 million tons of oil and 10 billion m3 of gas. The zones of oil and gas accumulation predicted here are characterized by specific densities of hydrocarbon resources up to 500-1500 thous. t/km
The data obtained in the nineties testify to the existence of a higher oil and gas potential of the Northeast (Eastern Arctic) seas. As of January 1, 1998, the initial recoverable hydrocarbon resources amounted to 15857 million tons of reference fuel, including 4575 million tons of oil and condensate and 11282 billion m3 of gas. Thus, resources for oil and condensate increased by 214%, for gas by 170.9%. However, due to the state of exploration and due to the complexity and capital intensity of development, this entire region is a reserve for a fairly distant future. The development of these deposits will require a huge concentration of capital and, probably, can become a field of activity for international consortiums under the general control of Russia.
On the Laptev Sea shelf area. 320 thousand square kilometers, 13.1 thousand line kilometers of seismic profiles have been completed to date. The shelf of the Laptev Sea has not been fully explored by regional studies. The sedimentary basins identified in the south (the thickness of the sedimentary cover is more than 10 km) are not outlined in the northern part. During the oil and gas geological zoning, an independent Laptev Sea oil and gas region (OGO) was identified. The southwestern part of the Laptev Sea is occupied by the Anabar-Khatanga OGO. Three oil and gas bearing complexes are identified in the section: Late Proterozoic carbonate, Upper Permian terrigenous, and Jurassic-Cretaceous terrigenous. According to the latest estimates, the predicted resources are determined to be about 8700 million tons, of which more than 70% are oil.
In the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas, the presence of large local objects with a promising area of up to 1.0-1.5 thousand square meters is expected. km and predicted recoverable resources of more than 1 billion tons of fuel equivalent. dominated by oil. Five oil and gas bearing basins (OGB) have been identified here, of which Novosibirsk, North Chukotka and South Chukotka are of the greatest interest. The South Chukotka oil and gas basin lies on the epi-Mesozoic plate, the thickness of the Cenozoic sedimentary stratum reaches 4-5 km. Single profiles here outline a large (area of more than 1200 km2) uplift with an amplitude of more than 400 m. Favorable geological conditions make it possible to predict the presence of giant multilayer hydrocarbon deposits here. The North Chukotka OGB is distinguished by the development of a thick (at least 13 km) sedimentary sequence, in which the same complexes are distinguished as in the OGB of Alaska. According to the official estimate, the recoverable resources of the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas are about 9 billion tons of hydrocarbons, and the share of oil does not exceed 2.7 billion tons. Taking into account the data on the correlation with the OGB of Alaska, this estimate can be increased by at least 2 times.
Within the shelf of the Bering Sea, there are three OGBs: Anadyr, Khatyr and Navarin. The oil and gas potential of the Anadyr and Khatyr oil and gas fields is represented in their continental regions, where 6 small hydrocarbon deposits have been discovered, of which 4 have been explored. The oil and gas potential of the Navarino basin has been proven in the American sector. The main oil and gas potential is confined to the Neogene deposits, however, oil and gas manifestations are noted throughout the Paleogene section. The total thickness of the sedimentary strata reaches 7 km. Potential recoverable resources of the Bering Sea shelf are estimated at the level of 1 billion tons of fuel equivalent, however, this estimate is minimal.
The review was prepared using materials from the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia
Russian Civilization
There are "serious questions" for the Danes. The fact is that a significant part of the Danish Arctic application is based on the use of geological materials ... Russia.
Are the Danes carried away by geological plagiarism? Let's try to figure it out. The history of the Arctic shelf has been going on for quite a long time, since the beginning of the century. And nothing has changed.
Since 2001, Moscow has been unsuccessfully proving to the world community that the underwater Lomonosov Ridge is a continuation of Eurasia, that is, it seems to be part of the territory of the Russian Federation. Year after year, this evidence is considered (and some successfully rejected) by the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. It consists of more than two dozen specialists representing different states. They meet several times a year. Usually, the "congress" of experts, at which applications are considered (and any decision is made on them or not), lasts 4-5 days.
At the end of 2001, Moscow submitted its first application to the UN Commission for the expansion of the Arctic shelf.
Recall, according to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the economic zone of states is allowed to expand, but on one condition: the seabed outside the zone is a natural continuation of the edge of the mainland. Shelf boundaries belonging to a certain state are recognized by default as equal to two hundred nautical miles. In its application, Moscow insisted on the right to include underwater spaces off the northern coast and east coast into its continental shelf. Scientists from Russia, who are aware of the hydrocarbon resources of the Arctic shelf, made an attempt to convince UN experts that the Lomonosov Ridge belongs to the Eurasian continent. International experts did not approve the application due to insufficient evidence base. That application was considered relatively quickly: in June 2002, the document was rejected with an indication of insufficient detailing of bottom relief maps and insufficient validity of the continental nature of the uplifts mentioned in the list and their connection with the Siberian shelf.
Years passed during which a new application was being prepared. This is not just a piece of paper: relevant studies have been carried out.
In May-September 2007, Russia organized the Arktika-2007 expedition to study the shelf of the Arctic Ocean. On August 1, scientists reached the North Pole, and the next day, the deep-sea manned submersibles Mir-1 and Mir-2 descended to the bottom and performed oceanographic, hydrometeorological and ice studies, for the first time in history, carrying out an experiment on taking samples of soil and flora from a depth 4261 meters. The results of the expedition became the basis of Russia's position in resolving the issue of ownership of the corresponding part of the Arctic shelf.
A few years later, in the fall of 2014, when the research ship Akademik Fedorov returned from the Arctic, Moscow announced the completion of work to form an application to the UN for shelf expansion.
In the new extended application of Russia, among other things, it was indicated that there were unresolved issues regarding the delimitation of maritime spaces with Denmark and Canada. The fact is that Denmark's application for a shelf north of Greenland, filed in December 2014, blocked the areas included in the Russian application (the polar region and part of the Lomonosov Ridge). Canada's application may relate to the rise of Mendeleev (the reference is given according to information from RIA Novosti).
Russia's extended application was discussed at the 41st session of the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in August 2016. Later, in December 2016, Moscow provided the commission's experts with additional information substantiating the application.
According to the director of the Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics (INGG SB RAS), Academician Mikhail Epov , the updated Russian application, which was considered by UN experts in August 2016, is very convincing.
The first application of Russia, the expert noted, did not pass due to the lack of an evidence base (reliable geological data and seismic surveys). “I believe that now the data are presented with a very high degree of reliability,” RIA Novosti quotes the scientist.
"One of the main pieces of evidence is the finds of paleontologists who establish the age of the finds and paleogeography. This is one of the reliable evidence that at that time there was a continent here, and not a sea," Mikhail Epov specified.
He also noted that if fundamental research in the relevant field had not begun seventy years ago, now Russia would have nothing to present to the UN.
An extended application, let us add, can be considered by UN specialists for a long time, for example, five years or a little less. The review period can be shortened by negotiation. But so far there has been no progress in this direction.
What does Russia want today? The same as before. It plans to “attach” the Lomonosov Ridge and other sections of the seabed, including the Podvodnikov Basin, the Mendeleev Rise, the southern tip of the Gakkel Ridge and the North Pole zone.
Why is it necessary? Russia plans to "grow" the Arctic not only territorially, but also "hydrocarbons": it is assumed that there are large reserves of minerals.
There are about six dozen deposits beyond the Arctic Circle, and 43 of them are located in the Russian sector. Total resources Russian Arctic estimated by experts at 106 billion tons of oil equivalent, and gas reserves - at 69.5 trillion. cubic meters. According to some minimal estimates, the “increment” of the above-mentioned part of the Arctic by Russia would make it possible to obtain at the disposal of the amount of hydrocarbons that would be enough to produce 5 billion tons of reference fuel.
The aforementioned UN commission is not the only one dealing with the Arctic. Unlike issues of geology and geography, issues of international cooperation in the Arctic are decided by the Arctic Council. This organization was established in 1996 in accordance with the Ottawa Declaration. The Intergovernmental Forum promotes cooperation, primarily in the field of environmental protection.
The members of the Arctic Council are Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the USA.
And recently Moscow was politely reminded of the need for a "constructive" approach within the framework of this Council.
As Margot Wallström, Swedish Foreign Minister, said recently, the Arctic Council remains an important platform for constructive discussions with Russia. "All forums devoted to international cooperation are especially important now, when there is an increase in nationalism and polarization, and the idea that countries should look after their own interests first and not worry about finding multilateral solutions," Wallström said at the international conference "Arctic frontiers" in the Norwegian polar city of Tromso. - In addition, we are glad to have the opportunity to work with Russia in the Arctic Council and conduct a constructive dialogue with it, although in other areas we may have a conflict of interest "(quoted by TASS).
It is important to know that in 2015 the chairmanship of the Council passed (for two years) to the United States. In May 2017, the States will hand over the presidency to Finland. For now, everyone is looking at Trump. Including Russia.
Recently, on January 21, the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation Sergey Donskoy made a statement that spread throughout the Russian press.
According to him, Russia has a number of significant comments on the justification of Denmark's application to expand the boundaries of the shelf in the Arctic, including the use of Russian geological information. “We are negotiating not only in the UN committee, but also with countries that border on us, with Denmark, Canada,” Interfax quotes him.
"So far, we have questions for the Danes. Specialists of the Ministry of Natural Resources were in Copenhagen in December, and there they presented a preliminary concept," said Donskoy. . "We have the main remarks in the justification. Despite the fact that most of The Danes' application is based on the use of our geological materials," the minister added.
Where did the Danes get the Russian materials from? According to Donskoy, these materials were open to analysis for validity.
The head of the Ministry of Natural Resources also said that the Russian side will hold talks with the United States in the future on expanding borders in the Arctic, despite the fact that Washington has not ratified the agreement on the delimitation of the Arctic continental shelf.
Are there any chances for such negotiations? And what will they be if Washington has not even ratified the necessary agreement?
"What the procedure will be is already a matter for the future, but in any case, negotiations will have to be held," Donskoy said. He also noted, TASS reports, that Russia has always taken into account the fact that the United States does not agree with the Russian application to expand the boundaries of the continental shelf in the Arctic.
"Naturally, we considered all this as a fact, it has long been known. The second point - in any case, we have, in addition to the fact that the commission (UN) must consider the application and confirm its validity, further negotiations are still (to be) with those countries with which we border: with the Danes, Canadians," the agency quoted the minister as saying.
Meanwhile, in other states, Trump is simply laughed at, exposing him in an unsightly light.
Has Donald Trump ever heard of the Arctic? writes Silke Bigalke in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. And he adds: "No one knows what Trump's policy in the Arctic will be," says US representative to the Arctic Council David Balton, and he should be aware. Balton will chair meetings of the Arctic Council while the US chairs it, until power will be handed over to Finland in May. Former President Barack Obama became the first US president to visit the American Arctic, and later banned oil and gas production in vast swaths of the region. "Do you think Trump has ever heard of the Arctic?" Balton host "Apparently not," he replies.
Some Russian experts, however, are full of optimism about Russia's Arctic future.
"If the commission's decision is not in our favor, we can always try to "go in" from the other side," Alexander Shpunt, general director of the Institute for Political Analysis Instruments, told Svobodnaya Pressa. "In any case, I see no reason not to try to enlist the support of the main international organization. We already had a positive experience when the Sea of Okhotsk was recognized as the exclusive economic zone of Russia. We can try to repeat it."
The situation with the Arctic "growth", we add, should be considered as still uncertain. The UN Commission, which has been delaying the recognition of the territories as Russian for so many years, will undoubtedly continue to delay. Apparently, Moscow is counting on some support from Washington, relying on Donald Trump. It seems to us that such hopes are meaningless. Trump is an American president, not a Russian one, and he clearly does not intend to expand Russia territorially. He will not strengthen his political opponent, this is obvious. In addition, the United States has not yet ratified the agreement on the delimitation of the Arctic continental shelf.
Probably, the main disputes over the shelf will not unfold now, but in the warm season: in May, the chairmanship of the Arctic Council will pass to Finland, and in the summer the composition of the UN commission will change.
Oleg Chuvakin