Oil traffic capacity of 100 million tons
The rapid growth of the oil and gas sector in the Russian part of the Barents region will also boost the oil tanker traffic through the Barents Sea. Within five years the traffic capacity of the northern coast of Norway and Russia can reach 100 million tons annually, according to a newly published report.
Download the report:Oil transport from the Russian part of the Barents Region Status per January 2011.
The report is written by Alexey Bambulyak of Akvaplan Niva and Bjørn Frantzen of Bioforsk and has been produced with support from the Norwegian Barents Secretariat.
It is estimated that oil tanker traffic and also transport capacity of the Barents Sea region will rise significantly in the coming five years, maybe up to a capacity of 100 million tons annually.
- The future traffic amount comes down to a matter of political decision on how Russia plans to transport it’s petroleum products to the world market, says Bambulyak.
According to Bambulyak the completion of several planned projects will be a major inducer to the rice in oil and gas export along the northern coasts. An important factor is the decision to build a LNG-plant at Yamal. It is likely to be built within the nearest future and could be operational in 2016-2017.
Yamal activity will in general become a major factor in the rise of traffic from petroleum products through the Barents Sea. Bambulyak believe the prospects of gas production in the Yamal Peninsula area, both onshore and offshore, are enormous. A lot of infrastructure has already been built and more is being developed.
- The accessibility of resources on the Yamal Peninsula will probably halter the progress in more costly projects like Shtokman Development, says Bambulyak.
The Varandey oil terminal in Pechora Sea has been in production since 2008 and ships out 12 million tons of crude oil annually, making it the largest offshore installation in the Pechora Sea and a contributes to a large amount of the tanker traffic in the Barents Sea. Pechora Sea production will experience a major growth as the Prirazlomnaya field is set in stream in 2011. It will be the first offshore oil rig in Russian Barents and is planned to be operational in 2012.
The volume of petroleum products through the Barents Sea has increased from 4 million tons of crude oil in 2004 to 15 million tons of oil and gas export cargos in 2010. What is a new factor to the development is the opening of the Northern Sea Route, giving way for several new markets for petroleum products in the Barents Region.
- In long term perspective the Northern Sea Route will give way for huge Yamal and Kara Sea oil and gas resources to the western markets via the Barents Sea. It will also open possibilities for transit cargo transportation from Europe to Asia’s Pacific along the Arctic coast, says Bambulyak.
