The Development of the Arctic offshore is the Global Task of Mankind

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The Development of the Arctic offshore is the Global Task of Mankind 

   At the end of the 2040s of this century the reserves of oil and partially gas in such traditional regions of oil and gas production as West Siberia or the Persian Gulf will be exhausted meanwhile the energy demand at that time will increase multifold.

The only chance to solve the energy problems of the mankind will be the development of the rich reserves in the Arctic region, but still to avoid the energy collapse it's necessary to look for the key to solution of the problem today.

It's important to bring together the efforts of various countries and oil companies since the task can be compared to conquering the outer space. 

 The conference and the exhibition of RAO CIS Offshore 2009 play a leading role among the international events devoted to the offshore oil development. There will be about 600 participants and 200 companies to take part in it in spite of the crisis times.

The Conference will sum up the results of the work done in terms of the Russian offshore development and assess the prospects of offshore development with specialists to discuss technologies that are about to be created in the nearest future.

This kind of events help the public at large to make clear what is going on with the offshore oil production and professionals to better understand where to move next. The opening of the Conference and the Exhibition was marked by the press-conference with participation of the most recognized representatives of the oil companies, scientific and governmental agencies.  

  Mr. Bent Lee Hansen, President of Statoil Hydro in Russia in his short speech brought some interesting figures underlining the fact that the share of the Norwegian companies in developing the Arctic offshore has increased from 5% in the 1970s of the last century to 70% in recent Norwegian offshore projects.  This is a signal to what Russian policy regarding the participation of the Russian companies in developing the offshore hydrocarbon reserves should be in the Arctic region.

When asked about the term for taking the final decision on investment into the Stockman Project by the NGE correspondent, Mr. Hansen replied that the decision will be taken in the first quarter of 2010.

Responding further to the question related to the price of gas making the Stockman Project profitable, he said that at this point the Project is at the stage of engineering solutions design many of which have not been approved yet. This is why it is still not the time to discuss the investment appeal of the Project with the existing price for gas. . "I believe in Stockman", concluded Mr. Bent Lee Hansen. 

 The question by NGE reporter about "what are the most demanded technologies in the area of developing of the Arctic offshore to be created in the nearest future and whether the Russian specialists can  contribute" was directed to Mr. Alexey Kantorovich,  the Chairman of the Conference Program Committee, academician, Chairman of the Scientific Board of the Russian Academy of Science on the Geology Problems and Development of Oil and Gas reserves, who said that one of the burning issues in developing the Arctic offshore is the consideration of the ice situation that matters for oil transportation and deep drilling for oil and gas..

 These issues are tackled in the presenters' reports prepared both by the specialists from the West and their colleagues in Russia, who, as Mr Kantorovich pointed out, have a profound knowledge in this area and have the authority.

"The contribution of the Russian science and engineering in developing of the Arctic will be tremendous", finalized the academician.

Pierre Nergaranian, Total Research and Development-Russia CEO in his presentation shared the success of the international company Total in the developing of the deep sea oil deposits in the past three years.

 "More than one million barrels per day from new reserves are produced, 80% being from the deep sea offshore areas", said Mr. Nergaranian." The Stockman Project has all the chances to become for Russia the same Project as Ecofist Project in Norway was 45 years ago", commented Mr. Nergaranian. 

 Victor Orlov, the Chairman of the Federation Board on Natural Resources and Environmental Protection underlined that the Russian Government approved the Russian Energy Strategy for the period up to 2030 and it is impossible to accomplish the Program without development of the offshore oil and gas deposits.

And the important question here is that in Russia the licensed areas out of 6.2 million sq km cover less than 5% with 95% of the area with two thirds of which have a potential for oil and gas have not been explored at all. That's why the proactive participation of the state is important for substantial increase of geological exploration of the Russian offshore regions.  

There is one more thing Mr. Orlov pointed out, and that's the problem both of Russian and international Arctic offshore regions that have barely been discussed and now the gap will be closed. Initiated by the Russian Geological Society and American Association of Petroleum Geologists on the 30th of September there will be held the first international conference to tackle the history of geological development and prospects of potential gas and oil content in the whole Arctic area.
  Finalizing the press conference, Mr. Kantorovich pointed out once again that the colleagues from Norway and France have rightly lauded outstanding achievements of oil workers, geologists, geoscientists of those countries in creating new technologies for oil and gas deposits development.

He reminded the participants of the role of the state that is of huge importance in developing the Arctic, given the complexity and importance of such research.

To achieve the goal, a powerful, well invested and thoroughly elaborated state program should be in place and there is a hope that such a program will be created soon. The initial work has already started.          

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