Rosneft announces big oil finding in icy Pechora Sea

A file photo of Rosneft’s headquarters in Moscow. ( Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)

The Russian state-run oil company estimates the deposit to contain 82 million tons of oil.

The discovery is made in the Medynsko-Varandeyskoye license, an area in the Pechora Sea where Rosneft previously drilled several exploration wells and found oil.

“During the test, a free flow of oil was obtained with a maximum flow rate of 220 cubic meters a day,” Rosneft said in a statement last Wednesday.

While many oil analysts speculate that Russia lacks the needed technology to develop offshore Arctic fields, Rosneft boss Igor Sechin assures the country has what it takes.

“We have all needed competencies, knowledge and experience, and in these kinds of projects 98 percent of technology is produced in Russia,” Sechin said in June when talking at the St. Petersburg Economical Forum about the plans for the Vostok Oil project, another Arctic cluster of onshore and planned offshore fields under development east of the Taimyr Peninsula.

‘No dependency of foreign companies and logistics chains’

He added that the project includes exports through the Northern Sea Route, and that there consequently “will be no dependency of foreign companies and logistics chains.”

The Pechora Sea is in the eastern Barents Sea, waters that normally are ice-covered mid-winter and early spring. The Pechora Sea is shallow and in this drilling area, only 10-19 meters.

The license area is close to Gazpromneft’s Prirazlomnoye field, the only operative offshore oil-producing platform in the European part of the Russian Arctic.

Onshore in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug there are several oil fields producing oil shipped to markets via a subsea pipeline to the offshore Varandey terminal operated by Lukoil. From there, ice-strengthened tankers bring the oil to Murmansk for reloading to larger tankers sailing to world markets.

As Europe is in the process of banning all oil imports from Russia, markets in Asia could see an opportunity to buy Arctic oil shipped eastbound via the Northern Sea Route.

Related stories from around the North: 

Canada: Tarquti Energy, Hydro-Quebec deal important step towards green energy for Nunavik, Inuit leaders say, Eye on the Arctic

Norway: First tanker in 20 months embarks to energy hungry Europe, The Independent Barents Observer

Russia: Russian renewable energy soon without foreign partners, The Independent Barents Observer

Thomas Nilsen, The Independent Barents Observer

For more news from the Barents region visit The Independent Barents Observer.

Do you want to report an error or a typo? Click here!

Leave a Reply

Note: By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that Radio Canada International has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Radio Canada International does not endorse any of the views posted. Your comments will be pre-moderated and published if they meet netiquette guidelines.
Netiquette »

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *