Prirazlomnoye field is an Arctic offshore oilfield located in the
Pechora Sea
The Pechora Sea (, ) is an Arctic sea to the north-west of European Russia, forming the south-eastern portion of the Barents Sea. It is bordered to the west by Kolguyev Island; to the east by Vaygach Island's western coasts and the Yugorsky ...
, south of
Novaya Zemlya
Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; , ; ), also spelled , is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, considered the extreme points of Europe ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, 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
An oil platform (also called an oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, etc.) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platforms w ...
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 their 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
PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐsˈprom) is a Russian State-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational Energy industry, energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. The Gazprom name is a contract ...
, and the field was to be operational by 2001.
[
] In June 2000, Gazprom and German energy company
Wintershall
Wintershall Holding GmbH, based in Kassel, was Germany's largest crude oil and natural gas producer. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF. The company was active in oil and gas exploration and production with operations in Europe, North Afri ...
signed a memorandum on cooperation in developing the Prirazlomnoye field.
[
] Also
Rosneft
PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, extraction, production, refining, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, and pet ...
wanted to join the project.
[
] In 2002, the license was transferred to
Sevmorneftegaz, a joint venture of Gazprom and Rosneft.
[
] Later Sevmorneftegaz became a wholly owned subsidiary of Gazprom. There is a plan to pass the Prirazlomnoye development to
Gazprom Neft
Gazprom Neft (; formerly Sibneft, ) is the third largest oil producer in Russia and ranked third according to refining throughput. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns about 96% of its shares. The company is registered and headquartered in ...
, an oil arm of Gazprom.
The name Prirazlomnoye means "at the geological fault".
Reserves
Prirazlomnoye field has reserves of .
[
]
Development
The field development concept is based on the single stationary Prirazlomnaya platform.Sevmash
JSC PO Sevmash () is a Russia, Russian joint-stock company (JSC) under the Vertical integration, vertically-integrated United Shipbuilding Corporation. The Shipyard, shipbuilding operations of Sevmash is in the port city of Severodvinsk on the Whi ...
shipyard in Severodvinsk
Severodvinsk (; ) is a city in the north of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located in the delta of the Northern Dvina, west of Arkhangelsk, the administrative center of the oblast. As of the 2021 Census, the population was 157,213. Due to the p ...
, was expected to be completed by 2011 and after that the drilling would start.Conoco
Conoco ( ), formerly known as Continental Oil, is an American Petroleum industry, petroleum brand that is operating under the current ownership of the Phillips 66 Company since 2012 and is headquartered in the Westchase, Houston, Westchase neigh ...
's Hutton field, which was the first ever built tension-leg platform
__NOTOC__
A tension-leg platform (TLP) or extended tension leg platform (ETLP) is a vertically geotechnical engineering#Floating-moored structures, moored floating structure normally used for the offshore production of crude oil, oil or natural g ...
.[
] Produced oil will be transported by double acting shuttle oil tankers ''Mikhail Ulyanov'' and ''Kirill Lavrov'', built in Admiralty Shipyard
The JSC Admiralty Shipyards () (''formerly Soviet Shipyard No. 194'') is one of the oldest and largest shipyards in Russia, located in Saint Petersburg. The shipyard's building ways can accommodate ships of up to , in length and in width. Mili ...
and operated by Sovcomflot
Sovcomflot () is Russia's largest shipping company, and one of the global leaders in the maritime transportation of hydrocarbons, as well as the servicing and support of offshore exploration and oil and gas production.
History
In 1973, the Gover ...
, to Floating Storage and Offloading vessel Belokamenka, located in Kola Bay
Kola Bay () or Murmansk Fjord is a 57-km-long fjord of the Barents Sea that cuts into the northern part of the Kola Peninsula. It is up to 7 km wide and has a depth of 200 to 300 metres. The Tuloma, Rosta and Kola Rivers discharge into ...
near Murmansk
Murmansk () is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far Far North (Russia), northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of a modest fjord, Ko ...
.[ Gazprom considers to build an ]oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...
in Teriberka at the location of the LNG plant of the Shtokman's development for processing oil from Prirazlomnoye and Dolginskoye fields.[
]
The concept of the development was designed by Vniigaz Institute, a subsidiary of Gazprom.[ The estimated maximum annual oil production volume is expected to be 6.6 million tonnes. The total investment is expected to be about US$1.03 billion.][
]
The first oil from Prirazlomnaya
The construction of the Prirazlomnaya took almost a decade. The platform installation was towed to the Pechora Sea in August 2011, however it took 2.5 years before the production started in December 2013.
Environmental issues
According to study of possible Arctic oil spill scenarios from the oil platform Prirazlomnaya completed by Russian scientists, together with environmentalists from Greenpeace and WWF-Russia Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...
and the World Wildlife Fund
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...
Gazprom is not prepared to deal adequately with a spill associated with oil production. The Russian Ministry of Emergency confirmed that Gazprom's oil spill response plan expired in July 2012, making any drilling the company undertakes in the Arctic illegal until a new one is submitted and approved.[
] On 24 August 2012, a group of Greenpeace activists under Kumi Naidoo
Kumi Naidoo (born 1965) is a South African Human rights activism, human rights and Climate justice, climate justice activist. He is the current President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, a joint diplomatic and civil socie ...
scaled the platform and put up a banner "Don't kill the Arctic".[
]Phil Radford
Philip David Radford (born January 2, 1976) is an American consumer and conservation leader, currently serving as the President and CEO of Consumer Reports, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that works with consumers to foster truth, transpare ...
, executive director of Greenpeace USA.Frans Timmermans
Franciscus Cornelis Gerardus Maria Timmermans (; born 6 May 1961) is a Dutch politician who served as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal and European Commissioner for Climate Action in the von der ...
said the Netherlands had applied to the UN's Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which resolves maritime disputes between states. The Netherlands view the ship's detention as unlawful.Dutch take legal action over Greenpeace ship in Russia
BBC 4 October 2013
References
External links
Prirazlomnoye oil filed (Gazprom website)
{Dead link, date=May 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
Prirazlomnaya Platform
Oil fields of Russia
Barents Sea
Gazprom oil and gas fields
Geology of European Russia