Where is Russia Searching for Oil?

In November Russia’s oil production hit a near 30 year high, with Gazprom Neft playing a key role in the national spike. Now, the Russian oil giant is expanding its horizons and kick-starting starting sea operations on a pair of heavy duty icebreaker vessels designed to traverse Arctic waters. The Alexander Sannikov and its sister ship are purpose built to support oil explorations in extreme Arctic climates, with the first trials set to commence in 2018.

"The main purpose of the vessels will be ice-breaker tanker support, assistance in mooring and loading, rescue operations, vessel towing, firefighting, and oil-spill response," revealed the Russian company in a recent statement.

Temperatures drop, profits soar

The company will be focussing its efforts on extracting oil from the Novoportovskoye field, which is located in Russia’s northern waters. The site has already proven its value, with Gazprom Neft dispatching its first winter shipment to the European market early last year. Moving forward, the company has estimated that seasonal oil shipments could sit at around 360,000 barrels if the project is a success.

Greenpeace takes on Gazprom

While the project could see Gazprom Neft profits soar, not everyone is on board. The plan has drawn heavy criticism from Greenpeace, with eco advocates warning that extracting oil from the Arctic is a major threat to the region’s fragile ecosystem. The backlash follows an incident in 2013 that saw Greenpeace use its Arctic Sunrise vessel to access Gazprom’s Prirazlomnaya rig. The protest resulted in two freelance journalists and 28 Greenpeace activists (dubbed the Arctic 30) being detained by Russian authorities on counts of piracy.

The building blocks of a bona fide oil terminal?

Despite public opposition Gazprom Neft is confident that the Novoportovskoye field will continue to generate profits, and has confirmed that its two purpose built icebreaker vessels will play a pivotal role in ensuring it Arctic oil exports continue throughout the year. With a fully operational oil terminal up and running, the region could represent an annual capacity of up to 62 million barrels.

As well as exploring new extraction opportunities, oil producers are continually developing new ways to increase efficiency. ‘CONTROLLING CORROSION: A New Method to Measure the Acid Number in Crude Oil and Refinery Distillation Fractions’ spotlights the latest thermometric endpoint detection technology from Metrohm USA, which is being used to overcome the sample and method challenges associated with measuring acidity.