Russian companies will operate in the Arctic regardless of foreign technologies, Natural Resources Minister says
Russian companies will operate in the Arctic regardless of foreign technologies, Natural Resources Minister Sergey Donskoy said at the scientific session of the Russian Academy of Sciences dedicated to the Arctic research and development.
Recoverable oil reserves in the Russian Arctic total some 7.7 bln t including 500 mln t on the shelf. Gas reserves make 67 bln cbm including 10 mln cbm on the shelf. Geological exploration for oil and gas is underway at 75 licensed sites including transit licences. By 2020, oil and gas companies are to drill 36 prospecting wells and 15 exploratory wells.
Sergey Donskoy also said that the Ministry proposed to create a scientific center of technologies for field exploration and development in severe ice conditions. “Such a center could be established at the premises of Skolkovo school. This would enable us to use only Russian technologies in the future independently of the foreign experience in scientific research, exploration and protection of subsoil resources, measures to prevent emergency situations”, he said.
