December 23, 2013
20 December 2013, Russian oil giant Gazprom announced it has produced the first commercial quantities of oil from its controversial Arctic drilling platform Prirazlomnaya in the remote waters of the Pechora Sea. The Prirazlomnoye oil field is located in the Pechora Sea, 60 kilometers off the shore. The recoverable oil reserves amount to 71.96 million tons, projected oil production comes up to some 6 million tons a year (to be reached after 2020). The first oil shipment from Prirazlomnoye is expected in the first quarter of 2014, and it is planned to produce no less than 300 thousand tons of oil throughout the year.
The Prirazlomnaya offshore ice-resistant stationary platform secures every process operation in the field – drilling for oil, its production and storage, end product processing and offloading. It is for the first time in the world that hydrocarbons in the Arctic shelf will be produced by a stationary platform.
“Prirazlomnaya is an unparalleled platform designed and constructed in Russia on Gazprom's request. It is intended for operation under extreme environmental and climatic conditions, meets the most stringent safety requirements and can resist high ice loads. Special alloys resistant to corrosion, low temperatures, high humidity and an aggressive marine environment were used during the platform construction. The platform is secured on the seabed by its own weight (506 thousand tons, including the stone berm artificially created for protection against scouring). A high-strength deflector secures the platform from wave and ice exposure. Produced oil is stored in the caisson with three-meter-high concrete walls covered with two-layer corrosion- and wear-proof clad steel plate. The safety margin of the Prirazlomnaya caisson exceeds greatly the actual loads.” – stated by Gazprom.
In response, Greenpeace suggested that the ‘clock is ticking’ on a major environmental accident in the Arctic region.
The Prirazlomnaya platform was the focus of a high profile Greenpeace protest in September which led to the arrest and imprisonment of 28 activists and two freelance journalists. The ‘Arctic 30’ were included in an amnesty passed by the Duma (Russian parliament) on Wednesday.
A Gazprom statement saying the company has started oil production at Prirazlomnaya added that it is the first project in the history of Russian resource development of the Arctic shelf.
Responding to the news Faiza Oulahsen from the Netherlands, one of the Arctic 30, said:
“This is a dark day for the Arctic. Gazprom is the first company on Earth to pump oil from beneath icy Arctic waters and yet its safety record on land is appalling. It is impossible to trust them to drill safely in one of the most fragile and beautiful regions on Earth. This is why I have spent the last two months of my life in jail, but I am just one of millions who oppose this reckless oil rush. We must stop this trickle of Arctic oil before it becomes a flood.”
She added: "The timing of this announcement is intriguing, to say the least. When Gazprom called the authorities and instructed them to arrest us, they never bargained for the global outrage they sparked. Now we are going home and Gazprom is licking its wounds. Announcing they have started producing oil does not dissuade us; it makes us more determined than ever to grow this global movement to save the Arctic. We’ve already discovered more oil than we’ll ever need if we’re going to avoid dangerous climate change. Looking for more of the stuff in the beautiful fragile Arctic is an act of extreme folly."
The offshore Arctic is the most inhospitable operating environment imaginable. Freezing temperatures, thick ice, months of perpetual twilight, giant storms and hurricane-force winds pose a unique technical risk to any oil company. There is no proven way of cleaning oil spilled in ice and even a small accident would have devastating consequences on the Arctic’s fragile and little-understood environment.
To realise its goal of opening up more of the Arctic to oil exploration, which Russia aims to turn into its “resource base of the 21st century”, Gazprom has signed an exploration deal with Shell that will provide it with new capital and much-needed expertise in offshore drilling, even though Shell’s own attempts to drill in the Alaskan Arctic were hit by repeated accidents and embarrassing safety blunders. Yet this deal represents a huge financial and reputational risk for Shell and its investors. A recent report written by Greenpeace, Share Action and Platform looked at the risks posed by Shell’s deal with Gazprom. It concluded that the partnership may expose Shell and its investors to risks associated with the Russian firm’s poor record on safety, environment and transparency.
23 December 2013 Greenpeace appealed to the General Prosecutor's office with a demand to check the legality of the start of oil production from the platform “Prirazlomnaya” as it believes that the company had violated several requirements of the Federal legislation in the field of environment protection and industrial security. “Gazprom Neft Shelf” has begun operation of a platform not having the financial provision for the oil spill response plan and not developing the regional spill response plan with displacement of more than 1.5 thousand tons of oil. In addition the company failed to conduct mandatory trainings for practicing the activities of an oil spill and to ensure the constant availability of icebreaking vessels on this drilling area.
In three years Russian President has routine criticized Greenpeace for not wanting to lead a “normal discussion”. But in three years Greenpeace is trying to attract the authorities ' attention to the obvious environmental, technical and economic problems around Prirazlomnaya platform. In spite of Gazprom launched Prirazlomnaya project 20 years ago it has failed to provide even basic requirements of the environmental legislation to commence drilling. When the first serious accident happens is only is only a matter of time” - said the head of the energy program of Greenpeace Russia Vladimir Chuprov.
http://www.gazprom.com/press/news/2013/december/article181251/