Despite the fact that Russia is at the forefront in the world among countries with oil and gas reserves, domestic geologists do not stop their work, discovering new fields. By the end of the 1980s, having gone beyond the borders of land, the researchers took up the waters of the Arctic. As a result, huge reserves were discovered on the shelf, the development of which can significantly change the situation in the global oil and gas market.
Prirazlomnaya offshore ice-resistant stationary platform: significance
It should be noted that, in principle, finding a deposit is not as difficult as the subsequent extraction of discovered minerals. For centuries, the harsh nature of the Arctic did not allow humans to invade its borders. However, with rising fuel prices, coupled with the development and implementation of new technologies, the need arose to increase the country's national stock. Therefore, work began on the platform. Prirazlomnaya for Russia is not only an object from which superprofits can be obtained. Fuel extraction activities will provide the country with the status of a great Arctic power, and will increase the prestige of the state due to the development of a high-tech industry. Next, we will examine how the Prirazlomnaya platform began to function. A photo, a brief description and problems will also be given in the article.
Terrain Features
In the 1990-2000s, they have not yet talked about serious activities on the shelf. However, the government, together with industry enterprises, has formed a set of priority deposits in the Arctic. One of them was a site located offshore in the Pechora Sea, relatively close to the coast (60 km). The depth here is also relatively shallow - 19-20 meters. However, this does not mean at all that difficulties in ensuring functioning were not assumed. The Prirazlomnaya platform was supposed to meet the requirements of climatic conditions. At the initial stages, its functioning was considered impossible. First of all, this was due to the fact that the oil industry needed not only to withstand the polar night and nine winter months with temperatures below -46 degrees. In addition, people had to ensure that the station was not crushed by ice, the thickness of which is more than 1.5 meters, and hummocks of 3.5 meters. In addition, field drift periodically occurs in the area.
Estimated launch dates
World history does not know analogues of the Gazprom project for oil production at the Prirazlomnoye field. Therefore, in terms of state prestige, the development of the shelf acted as an extremely important task. However, at the same time, in an effort to set such a record, direct economic benefits may be lost. In the 1990s, the Prirazlomnaya platform began to be built. It was built at the Sevmash. However, due to lack of funding, this project was frozen. They returned to the idea already in 2000. At that time, it was not clear until the end which of the country's leading oil and gas companies would develop the shelf. Nevertheless, it was planned to start production by 2005. However, in practice, the deadlines have shifted by at least 8 years. Gazprom planned to begin development in 2013. But even at that time, subsequent term adjustment was not ruled out. The previously estimated dates were also shifted: from 2010 to 2011 and then until 2010.
Construction
At Sevmash in the early 2000s, they decided to reduce the time during which Prirazlomnaya was to be created. The platform (the photo below illustrates the general view of the structure) was built in parts. First of all, we started creating the lower half - the caisson. The upper part, including residential blocks, it was decided to purchase later on the side. In 2002, Sevmash paid attention to the Hatton platform. She once worked in the North Sea and was decommissioned at the end of the operational period. If domestic buyers contacted a little later, Hatton would be cut into scrap metal.
First scandal
It was connected with the purchase of the Hatton platform. This deal was extremely opaque. During 2002, the platform was resold several times. The first deal was held at a price of $ 29 million, and then the offshore company Monitor TLP Ltd decommissioned complex was sold to Russia for $ 67 million. However, the Norwegian press also indicated other amounts (60.7 and 83.2 million). At the same time, it was stipulated that the difference between these figures is Monitor's net profit. It is not known what really happened - Russia overpaid or did not pay this offshore. However, quotes from Norwegian publications were cited in domestic specialized forums that were interested in these transactions. In particular, in one of them it was said that Russia was eyeing other stations, including a platform operating in Alaska. Its cost, according to some sources, was estimated at $ 60 million. Domestic companies found it too high.
The story of radioactivity
It should be said that suspicious value is not the only problem that Prirazlomnaya is associated with. The Hatton platform, as Arkhangelsk journalists found out, turned out to be radioactive. And before starting the modernization of the upper part, I had to clean the lower sector. However, the story of radioactivity was not widely publicized and therefore did not cause a public outcry.
Completion of construction
For several years, the caisson was modernized at Sevmash and the upper part of the foreign platform was adapted. Construction at the docks was completed by the summer of 2011. As a result, a square Prirazlomnaya MLSP was created - a platform with sides of 126 m at the base level and with a caisson height of 24.3 m (with a deflector of 40.5 m). She had to make 36 wells, 19 of which were producing. Upon completion of construction, the Prirazlomnaya drilling platform set off on its only flight - to the field.
Infrastructure
It was created in parallel with construction and modernization. The most important components of the infrastructure were to be two tankers. In year-round, they had to take the extracted raw materials from the field. I must say that the reservoir, which has the Prirazlomnaya platform, has a rather large volume - about 100 thousand tons. Nevertheless, in case of reaching the design capacity of 6 million tons per year (16.4 thousand tons per day), it will be filled in about a week. The documentation states that tankers should depart from the station every 5-6 days. They themselves were built on time (which cannot be said about the date when the Prirazlomnaya platform was completely ready). Shipment to the first tanker was completed in April 2014. In September of that year, the millionth barrel was produced.
Construction Features
Prirazlomnaya is a platform through which a complex of technological operations is performed. It is designed in such a way as to ensure maximum safety of the extraction of raw materials. Caisson also acts as an oil storage. The raw material storage system provides for a wet method of placing it in tanks. In this case, the oil that enters the storage displaces ballast water. When pumping, the opposite happens: the raw material is replaced by water. This, in turn, eliminates the penetration of oxygen into the tank and ensures the absence of free space for the accumulation of explosive gases. The Prirazlomnaya oil platform is equipped with an automatic safety and control system. Thanks to it, remote control over the processes of extraction, storage, preparation of raw materials, production and distribution of electricity is carried out. In addition, an analysis of the fire-gas situation is provided. If necessary, the system activates an emergency stop of technological processes and equipment. The functioning is fully automated, which reduces the impact of the human factor to zero.
Prirazlomnaya platform: Greenpeace (2013)
In September of this year, Greenpeace activists attempted to hold a rally to protest the operation of the facility. In inflatable boats, six people descended from the Arctic Sunrise and approached the structure. During the appearance of activists, as noted by the executive director of Gazpromneft-shelf Lubin, underwater work was carried out. Divers performed mandatory monitoring of the technical condition of abandoned wells, fish protection devices, and the embankment around the structure. The consequences of the actions of activists could become the most unpredictable, and for submariners - the most tragic. Two activists were detained by officers of the special forces of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in the Murmansk Region. They were brought aboard the PSKR Ladoga. During the operation, warning fire was fired from an artillery installation located on the border ship and the AK-47 assault rifle. A vessel of Greenpeace activists was forcibly stopped, detained and escorted to Murmansk. According to the Investigative Committee, the actions of representatives of the environmental organization can be regarded as piracy. In turn, activists protesting that the Prirazlomnaya ice-resistant platform continued to function qualified the incident as an unlawful seizure of a vessel that was not in the restricted area. Later, the IC of the Russian Federation regarded the actions of representatives of the organization as hooliganism.
