First Russian floating drilling rig to be tested at sea

Russia is ready to begin oil extraction on the Arctic shelf. The reserves of hydrocarbons in the Russian economic zone are estimated at approximately 100 billion tons of conditional fuel. The first Russian floating drilling rig, destined for the Arctic shelf, will be tested at sea and then handed over to Gazprom, the Russian oil and gas company.

The Arkticheskaya Drilling Rig was built in Severodvinsk in the Arkhangelsk Region. ""The final stage of work, which was done ahead of the key tests, is completed," says Nadezhda Shcherbinina, spokeswoman for the producing plant. "This is a self-raising drilling rig, which will be tested on the shelf. All mechanisms work normally. The rig will be moved with by tugboats. Mooring tests are currently underway, and the equipment has already been assembled. Some time ago the rig was raised over water so that it would be possible to paint both the sides and the bottom."

It was rather hard to do that. The point is that it is a gigantic structure, weighing nearly 16,000 tons. A very big construction it is! Its mounting is nearly 90 metres in length, and its width is about 70 metres. The Arkticheskaya -- equipped with a helicopter pad -- can drill oil-fields up to 6,500 metres deep. The operation to run in the two diesel generators has already been completed, and the tests of both the launching mechanisms and equipment have been completed as well. The maximum depth of the sea, where drilling is possible, is 100 metres. The Arkticheskaya is very solid, hence it is Arctic ice resistant. This is a new-generation technology. Such ice-resistant rigs, meant for both prospecting for and the extraction of oil and gas, and also ice-resistant gas carriers, meant for the transportation of fuel under Arctic conditions, are produced by the leading Russian ship-building plants.

Experts say that in the coming 10 years Russia will need about 20 ice-resistant drilling rigs for developing several big oil-and-gas deposits on the Arctic shelf. This project, the biggest one of its kind, is linked to the development of the Shtokman Gas-Condensate Deposit on the Barents Sea Shelf, which has nearly 4 trillion cubic metres of gas condensate. Besides the Russian companies, taking part are also the French Total Company and the Norwegian StatoilHydro Company. The gas will go to the countries of the Atlantic Basin. Experts say that in view of consumption growth, in several years' time Europe will need more than 100 billion cubic metres of gas.

This story is posted on Alaska Dispatch as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.