Russia intends to increase geological exploration and the production of hydrocarbon resources on the continental shelf, in the Arctic zone and in the Caspian Sea in light of the new Naval Doctrine of the Russian Federation, which was approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The All-Russian Research Geological Oil Institute, part of the Federal Agency for Mineral Resources, has announced two tenders worth a total of almost 2.5 billion rubles to study the oil and gas reserves on the Arctic shelf.
Participants in the 2022 Arctic Floating University (AFU) will study Arctic microorganisms for the first time in order to obtain new antibiotics and enzymes for the food industry. Project participants have been selected and a research program has been planned.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology estimated the volume of resources of the Arctic seas of Russia at 15.7 billion tons of oil, 91.7 trillion cubic meters of gas and 4.7 billion tons of condensate.
"The resources of the water areas are estimated at 15.7 billion tons of oil, 91.7 trillion cubic meters of gas and 4.7 billion tons of condensate. At the same time, the degree of exploration of the initial total resources by industrial categories is 4.7% for oil, 10.1% for gas and 6.1% for condensate. It is obvious that geological exploration is necessary to transfer the potential to reserves," said Alexander Kozlov, head of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
Kozlov noted that now in the Arctic seas - Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi, Bering - there is practically no drilling study, and the degree of exploration of resources does not exceed 3%.
"But the study of these seas is not a matter of tomorrow, there is no oil and gas transportation infrastructure, there is a difficult ice situation. So far, the interests of the companies are concentrated in the Kara, Caspian, Okhotsk and Pechora Seas," he stressed.
Environment Ministry could lift impact assessment requirement for exploration drilling in the Arctic
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is willing to replace the environmental assessment requirement for exploration drilling in the Arctic with additional environmental protection measures.
The Government of Norway is preparing to issue licenses for oil and gas prospecting operations in little-studied Arctic areas.
