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Airborne geophysical survey in the high Arctic

Russia currently has one offhsore oil platform in the Arctic - "Prirazlomnaya" in the Pechora Sea. (Photo: Gazprom)

The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources has announced a tender for aerial photography of the northern parts of the East Siberian Ocean to estimate oil and gas reserves in the area and obtain further evidence for the shelf’s outer limits.

Location

The airborne geophysical survey on a scale of 1:500 000 is done to create a modern geological and geophysical basis of parts of the Atlantic Ocean that are poorly studied but considered to be highly perspective when it comes to oil and gas deposits.

The tender has a maximum price of RUB 420 million (€8,96 million). The area to be studied is over than 214.600 square kilometers, RIA Novosti reports.

Rosneft holds licenses in the East Siberian Ocean. The company plans to start drilling in the area together with ExxonMobile.

The results of the study will also be used in the preparation of additional arguments in the process of establishing the outer limits of the Russian shelf. Russia plans to submit claims to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in spring 2015, BarentsObserver reported earlier.

If Russia can prove that the Lomonosov Ridge and the Mendeleev Ridge are an extension of the Russian continental shelf, the country will receive the right to the additional 1.2 million square kilometers in the Arctic.

The aerial photography is supposed to be carried out within the end of 2015.