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Petroleum Exploration In The Arctic
The exploration of the Arctic for petroleum is considered to be quite technically challenging. However, recent technological developments, the melting of Arctic permafrost, as well as relatively high oil prices, have allowed for exploration. As a result, the region has received significant interest from the petroleum industry. Since the onset of the 2010s oil glut in 2014, the commercial interest in Arctic exploration has declined. Overview There are 19 geological basins making up the Arctic region. Some of these basins have experienced oil and gas exploration, most notably the Alaska North Slope where oil was first produced in 1968 from Prudhoe Bay. However, only half the basins – such as the Beaufort Sea and the West Barents Sea – have been explored. A 2008 United States Geological Survey estimates that areas north of the Arctic Circle have 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil (and 44 billion barrels of natural gas liquids ) in 25 geologica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wood Mackenzie
Wood Mackenzie, also known as ''WoodMac,'' is a global research and consultancy group supplying data, written analysis, and consultancy advice to the energy, chemicals, renewables, metals, and mining industries. In 2015, the company was acquired by Verisk Analytics, an American data analytics and risk assessment firm, in a deal valued at $2.8 billion. The company is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, though it has over 40 offices worldwide. Originally founded as stockbroker in 1923, the company's energy business was launched in 1973, when it started reviewing the North Sea oilfields. Between 2007 and 2014, Wood Mackenzie acquired coal specialists Hill & Associates in the US, Barlow Jonker in Australia, and Brook Hunt, the UK-based metals analysts. Since 2015 a host of companies have become part of Wood Mackenzie including PSG, a petroleum database service; PCI, the specialist chemicals analysis group; Greentech Media, providing analysis of the solar market and MAKE, providing a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panarctic Oils Ltd
Panarctic Oils Limited was formed in 1966 as a result of the Canadian government's eagerness to encourage exploration of the Canadian Arctic islands and to assert Canadian sovereignty in the region. That company consolidated the interests of 75 companies and individuals with Arctic Islands land holdings plus the Federal government as the major shareholder. It played an important part in the development of the petroleum industry in Canada. History The company had a long and complicated birth. When the deal was complete in 1968, the Federal government held 45% of the new company's equity. Panarctic marked the Federal government's first direct entry into the oil and gas business, except for a brief period of involvement during World War II. After its formation, the company became the principal oil and gas operator in the Arctic Islands. In 1976, the federal government transferred its stake to Petro-Canada who later raised its stake to 53%. Exploration In that role it spent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canadian Arctic
Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. This area covers about 48 per cent of Canada's total land area, but has less than 1 per cent of Canada's population. The terms "northern Canada" or "the North" may be used in contrast with ''the far north'', which may refer to the Canadian Arctic, the portion of Canada that lies north of the Arctic Circle, east of Alaska and west of Greenland. However, in many other uses the two areas are treated as a single unit. __TOC__ Definitions Subdivisions As a social rather than political region, the Canadian North is often subdivided into two distinct regions based on climate, the ''near north'' and the ''far north''. The different climates of these two regions result in vastly different vegetation, and therefore very different eco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prirazlomnaya Platform
Prirazlomnoye field is an Arctic offshore oilfield located in the Pechora Sea, south of Novaya Zemlya, Russia, the first commercial offshore oil development in the Russian Arctic sector. The field development is based on the single stationary Prirazlomnaya platform, which is the first Arctic-class ice-resistant oil platform in the world. Commercial drilling was planned to begin in early 2012, however it was delayed at least until the Spring of 2013 due to protester's "safety concerns". Safety concerns have been raised about Prirazlomnoye platform, citing use of decommissioned equipment (the 1984 TLP upper section of the rig), however Gazprom's oil spill response plan for Prirazlomnaya was renewed in 2014, and most questions found its answers. The Arctic Prirazlomnoye field produced the 10 millionth barrel of Russian North Arctic Oil in March 2016. History The field was discovered in 1989. In 1993, the development license was issued to Rosshelf, a subsidiary of Gazprom, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pechora Sea
Pechora Sea (russian: link=no, Печо́рское мо́ре, or Pechorskoye More), is a sea at the northwest of Russia, the southeastern part of the Barents Sea. The western border of the sea is off Kolguyev Island, while the eastern border is the western coasts of Vaygach Island and the Yugorsky Peninsula, and the northern border the southern end of Novaya Zemlya. The Pechora Sea is quite shallow, its average depth being only 6 m. The deepest point reaches 210 m. In the southern part of the sea runs the eastward-flowing Kolguyev Current. There are a few islands close to the coast, the largest of which is Dolgiy Island. The Pechora Sea is blocked by floating ice from November to June. The main river entering the sea is the Pechora. History Historically, before the adjacent Barents Sea was named as such, the Pechora Sea's own name was already established. The rest of the present-day Barents Sea was known then as "Sea of Murmansk" (Murmanskoye Morye). The Pechora Sea was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snøhvit
Snøhvit ''( en, Snow White)'' is the name of a natural gas field in the Norwegian Sea, situated northwest of Hammerfest, Norway. The northern part of the Norwegian Sea is often described as the Barents Sea by offshore petroleum companies. ''Snøhvit'' is also the name of a development of ''Snøhvit'' and the two neighbouring natural gas fields ''Albatross'' and ''Askeladden''. Estimated recoverable reserves are 193 billion cubic metres of natural gas, of condensate (light oil), and 5.1 million tonnes of natural gas liquids (NGL). The development comprises 21 wells. The Snøhvit development is operated by Equinor on behalf of six gas companies owning licenses: * Petoro * TotalEnergies * GDF Suez * Equinor * Hess * RWE Dea The fields were discovered in 1984. The development plan was presented by Statoil in 2001. A subsea production system is planned to feed a land-based plant on the island of Melkøya via long submarine gas pipeline with diameter of . The gas from Snøhvit w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Single Steel Drilling Caisson
Single steel drilling caisson is a drill barge that was built for year-round oil exploration in shallow ice-covered waters in the Beaufort Sea. The unit, initially named ''SSDC'' and later shortened to ''SDC'', was converted from an old oil tanker (''Ujigawa Maru'', later ''World Saga'') in the early 1980s. It has been used to drill a total of eight oil wells on both Canadian and U.S. continental shelves, the most recent in 2006. Description The hull of the single steel drilling caisson, which consists of the forward two thirds of the hull of a very large crude carrier, is long and wide, and measures from keel to main deck. The original 80,000-tonne drilling unit sits on top of a 35,000-tonne submersible barge that acts as an artificial steel berm when the unit is lowered to the seafloor using water ballast. While on location, a box-type skirt prevents it from sliding sideways and an air injection system helps to overcome the suction effect during de-ballasting. The u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SS Manhattan (1962)
SS ''Manhattan'' was an oil tanker constructed at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, that became the first commercial ship to cross the Northwest Passage in 1969. Having been built as an ordinary tanker in 1962, she was refitted for ice navigation during this voyage with an icebreaker bow in 1968–69. Registered in the United States at the time, she was the largest US merchant vessel. If we consider ice navigation vessels as icebreakers, then ''Manhattan'' was the biggest icebreaker in history before the construction of the Yamalmax class ships. In 1965, she was taken to Portland, Oregon via the Columbia River, to be cleaned and used to transport 50,000 tons of grain. The size and draught of the ship required careful preparations for her transit on the river. ''Manhattan'' remained in service until 1987. After an accident in East Asia she was scrapped in China. 1969 Northwest Passage transit ''Manhattan''s route began in August 1969 on the east coast of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North West Passage
The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Siberia is accordingly called the Northeast Passage (NEP). The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and from Mainland Canada by a series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passages, Northwestern Passages or the Canadian Internal Waters. For centuries, European explorers, beginning with Christopher Columbus in 1492, sought a navigable passage as a possible trade route to Asia, but were blocked by North, Central, and South America, by ice, or by rough waters (e.g. Tierra del Fuego). An ice-bound northern route was discovered in 1850 by the Irish explorer Robert McClure. Scotsman John Rae explored a more southerly area in 1854 through which Norwegian Roald Amundsen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cook Inlet
Cook Inlet ( tfn, Tikahtnu; Sugpiaq: ''Cungaaciq'') stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage. On its southern end, it merges with Shelikof Strait, Stevenson Entrance, Kennedy Entrance and Chugach Passage. The Cook Inlet watershed is the most populated watershed in Alaska. The watershed covers about of southern Alaska, east of the Aleutian Range, south and east of the Alaska Range, receiving water from its tributaries, the Knik River, the Little Susitna River, and the Susitna and Matanuska rivers. The watershed includes the drainage areas of Denali (formerly named Mount McKinley). Within the watershed there are several national parks and the active volcano Mount Redoubt, along with three other historically active volcanoes. Cook Inlet provides navigable access to the port of Anchorage at the northern end, and to the smaller Homer port fur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baffin Bay
Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; kl, Avannaata Imaa; french: Baie de Baffin), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is sometimes considered a sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is connected to the Atlantic via Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea. The narrower Nares Strait connects Baffin Bay with the Arctic Ocean. The bay is not navigable most of the year because of the ice cover and high density of floating ice and icebergs in the open areas. However, a polynya of about , known as the North Water, opens in summer on the north near Smith Sound. Most of the aquatic life of the bay is concentrated near that region. Extent The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of Baffin Bay as follows: History The area of the bay has been inhabited since BC. Around AD 1200, the initial Dorset settlers were replaced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
