Rosneft starts oil and gas developments on ice edge
Russia’s Rosneft plans to start exploration of three blocks in the waters between Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land.
At a public hearing in Arkhangelsk, the oil company presented its plans for exploration on three oil and gas fields it had acquired licenses to in 2013 – Albanovsky, Varneksky and West-Prinovozemelsky, the company’s press service reports.
The three fields are all located in the Arctic Ocean at between 74 and 80°N. The area is covered in ice more than half of the year, according to information on the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
An assessment in 2009 estimated that the Albanovsky section of the shelf contained 144.2 million tons of oil, 43.3 million of which is extractable, and 1,254.4 billion cubic meters of gas. The deposits at Varnetsky are estimated to be 2,081 million tons, of which 542 million is extractable, Neftegas wrote.
Recoverable resources of the West-Prinovozemelsky block are according to Rosneft’s estimates: oil and gas condensate - 1434 million tons, gas - 1893 billion cubic meters.
The exploration program will take place in one of the summer-autumn sailing seasons (June-November) in the period 2016-2020, and will include bathymetric surveys and taking samples of bottom sediments.
