Russia’s first Arctic offshore field Prirazlomnoye, where Greenpeace activists were arrested in September after a high seas clash with Russian authorities, has started production of oil, energy company Gazprom said on Friday.
The project is almost a decade behind its initial schedule and is one of the most controversial energy projects, seen as dangerous for the environment by activists, who say that the drilling and storage platform is three decades old.
“We became the pioneers of Russia’s Arctic development,” Gazprom’s chief executive officer Alexei Miller said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia’s Arctic offshore riches are of a strategic importance for the country, which now is pumping an average of 10.6 million barrels of oil per day, close to its current capacity.
However, start of production had long been delayed due to various challenges, including ageing equipment and a change in shareholders structure. Difficulties obtaining official clearances and technical problems also hampered the project.
Russia, the world’s second-biggest oil exporter, is vying with Canada, Denmark, Norway and the US for control of the oil, gas and precious metals that would become more accessible if global warming shrinks the Arctic ice cap.
Greenpeace has said that oil production in the pristine region risks spills similar to the Mexican Gulf disaster at BP’s platform in 2010, saying that some of Prirazlomnaya platform’s parts were used at another offshore project about 30 years ago.
The activists issued a statement on Friday, saying, the launch of production is “a dark day for the Arctic.”
“Gazprom is the first company on Earth to pump oil from beneath icy Arctic waters and yet its safety record on land is appalling. It is impossible to trust them to drill safely in one of the most fragile and beautiful regions on Earth,” Greenpeace said in a statement.
Gazprom has said it has taken all necessary measures to prevent any incidents.
Russia detained 30 Greenpeace activists protesting against Arctic drilling at the Prirazlomnaya platform in September. The protesters faced jail sentences of up to 7 years although Putin later announced an amnesty, which covers the activists.
The Arctic region is seen as an important source of potential growth for Russia, the world’s largest oil producer, in the next decade, with global oil majors including ExxonMobil, Eni or Statoil clinching deals to enter the Russian Arctic.
Production from these projects is not seen before late 2020s.
Gazprom Neft had expected initial production at Prirazlomnoye at 12,000 barrels per day next year with a plateau of 120,000 barrels per day in 2021.
Oil will be extracted from the deposit, where winter temperatures often plunge below minus-50?C, and then pumped to tankers bound for Europe.
Gazprom Neft sees overall investments into the project at about 200 billion roubles (US$6 billion), of which half had already been spent with the bulk accounting for a special ice-proof platform.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS