“Today we are neither technically, technologically or economically ready for any serious business on the shelf, especially not the Artic shelf”, Gennady Shmal, President of the Russian Oil and Gas Industrialists Union said at a conference in Moscow on Tuesday. “We don’t have any platforms of our own, we only have Prirazlomnaya, and it took 15 years to build and came out a lot more expensive”, he added.
To be able to start any serious work on the shelf, Russia needs to have several platforms and infrastructure in Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and other places, the oil expert said, according to ITAR-TASS. “Only in 10-12 years will we be ready to enter the shelf head-on”.
According to Russian law, only companies with more than 50 percent state shares and five years of shelf experience are allowed to work on the Russian shelf. This only applies for Rosneft and Gazprom.
