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Page added on April 18, 2014
Russia ships first oil from offshore Arctic platform
President Vladimir Putin hailed Russia’s first shipment of Arctic offshore oil on Friday, saying the platform decried by environmentalists will help Moscow expand its global energy markets share.
Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia’s top gas producer Gazprom, shipped the first 70,000 tonnes of oil by tanker from the Prirazlomnoye platform, the site of a protest by 30 Greenpeace activists who were arrested last year.
The launch of oil production in the Arctic, seen by Russia as one of the key sources in the gradual replacement of output from its depleted West Siberian fields, has long been delayed due to cost overruns and technical difficulties.
“This, in essence, is the beginning of great and large-scale extraction of minerals and oil by our country in the Arctic,” Putin said, speaking from his residence outside Moscow via a video link with workers at the platform, including Gazprom’s head Alexei Miller.
“The whole project will positively influence Russia’s future presence on the global energy markets and will strengthen both the whole economy and the energy sector,” said Putin, who personally oversees all the major energy projects in country.
Russia’s oil output stands at over 10 million barrels per day, the world’s largest, but it needs new sources of crude oil, including hard-to-recover deposits and the Arctic, to sustain this level.
ARCTIC RESOURCES
The start of Arctic oil shipments drew strong criticism from the environmental group Greenpeace, whose protests against Prirazlomnoye last year led to the arrest of 30 activists who were held for two months before a Kremlin amnesty released them.
“If we do not stop this Arctic oil rush, we risk not only the environment but our ability to shake off the power structures of the last century,” Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo said in a statement.
“Greenpeace, alongside millions of our supporters, will continue to stand against any oil company that tries to drill in the melting Arctic ocean.
The arrest of activists from 18 countries, who faced up to 15 years in jail on piracy charges, drew criticism from Western nations and celebrities such as ex-Beatle Paul McCartney.
The recoverable oil reserves of the Prirazlomnoye field, located 60 kilometres (37.5 miles) off Russia’s northernmost shores, are estimated at 72 million tonnes.
Gazprom Neft said on Thursday that the expected level of the output is seen at 6 million tonnes a year (120,000 barrels per day) from after 2020.
Rosneft, Russia’s top oil producer, has agreed to develop Russian Arctic hydrocarbon resources with ExxonMobil , Eni and Statoil.
It puts total offshore hydrocarbon resources at 43 billion tonnes of oil equivalent.
The Arctic is estimated to contain 20 percent of the world’s undiscovered hydrocarbon resources. Rosneft’s projects are not expected to produce their first oil from Arctic waters before the middle of the next decade.
6 Comments on "Russia ships first oil from offshore Arctic platform"
Stilgar Wilcox on Fri, 18th Apr 2014 11:27 pm
“If we do not stop this Arctic oil rush, we risk not only the environment but our ability to shake off the power structures of the last century,” Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo said in a statement.
“Greenpeace, alongside millions of our supporters, will continue to stand against any oil company that tries to drill in the melting Arctic ocean.”
Success extracting oil in the Arctic is really bad news environmentally. It was difficult and damaging enough trying to get rid of oil from the Macondo spill in the GOM, (with remnants still washing up including dead wildlife) let alone in the pristine chilly waters of the Arctic, where someday an oil spill will surely occur.
This success will embolden Russia and other countries to drill in the Arctic, just as ice volume and area continues to spiral downward reducing albedo (reflectivity), the cause of which is manmade carbon emissions.
There was an article yesterday that the US has become an oligarchy, in which most decisions are made by the corporate elite, and secondarily by the people. It seems as though that is becoming a worldwide phenomenon in which corporations run our planet irrespective of the environment. Unfortunately ‘we the people’ are playing 2nd fiddle.
Makati1 on Sat, 19th Apr 2014 1:27 am
Where was Greenpeace when the BP well blew out and killed the Gulf?
As for this article, of course all governments are going to go after the last drops of power/oil. I would say that economics, not just corporations are running governments/countries today. What this bodes for life on earth is not good, but it is inevitable, unless mother nature locks it up in ice again. We shall see.
kervennic on Sat, 19th Apr 2014 5:06 am
Hopefully they will have an accident and a large number of casualties.
Russian are very good starting crazy projcts that invariably miserably fails.
Look at the number of nuclear submarne that lies on their sea bed.
Russia likes drama and look for them eagerly.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sat, 19th Apr 2014 8:38 am
ARTICLE SAID – The Arctic is estimated to contain 20 percent of the world’s undiscovered hydrocarbon resources. Rosneft’s projects are not expected to produce their first oil from Arctic waters before the middle of the next decade.
ARTICLE SAID – The recoverable oil reserves of the Prirazlomnoye field, located 60 kilometres (37.5 miles) off Russia’s northernmost shores, are estimated at 72 million ton
Not much oil to be squawking about. I would say when an article says the production is not due to the middle of the next decade then the chances are it will never happen.
meld on Sat, 19th Apr 2014 11:12 am
Somebody needs explain to greenpeace why we are still using fossil fuels. It’s because renewables are crap for maintaining the status quo and everyone wants to maintain the status quo above all else.
rockman on Sat, 19th Apr 2014 3:21 pm
“It was difficult and damaging enough trying to get rid of oil from the Macondo spill in the GOM.” I always find it odd how much protest there is against drilling in the Arctic compared to drilling in the GOM. Is the GOM immune from environmental damage? Will an Arctic spill impact more folks then the Macondo blowout?
So the Russians shipped about 240,000 bbl of oil from the platform. Today over 400 million bbl of oil are produced annually in the GOM. It would appear that the greater risk of significant environmental damage is in the GOM…BP did a fine job of proving that. So why aren’t GP members climbing platforms in the GOM? Do they consider our marine life and the well being of the folks alone the Gulf Coast less important?
Maybe just like people: all environments are equal. Just some are more equal then others. LOL.