It has taken Gazflot, the Gazprom subsidiary, more than 15 years to get the “Arkticheskaya” ready. The rig, which has been constructed at the Zvedochka yard in Severodvinsk, has a 88 meter long and 66 meter wide platform and can house 90 workers. Maximum drilling depths are 6500 meters.
As previously reported, Russian and Canadian experts started to install the drilling equipment at the rig late 2011.
Speaking at this week’s oil conference in Murmansk, Laus said that he hoped that the “Arkticheskaya” will be ready in the course of the year, Interfax reports. It will be included in Gazflot’s unit in Murmansk and become a new key asset in Arctic drilling operations.
Gazflot, a core unit in Gazprom’s shelf exploration operations, has major plans for the development of a new oil base in Murmansk. The base, which will be located in the area of the Shipyard No 35, will include facilities for construction and repair of both ships and equipment, as well as new port facilities and mooring points, buildings and construction, Murmansk TV reports.
The new base will be able to serve the Prirazlomnoye, Shtokman and Dolginskoye projects, Leus said.
The conference “Development of the Arctic Shelf. Step after step” was organized by the Murmanshelf Association and included representation of several major corporate stakeholders in the region among them Statoil and Total.
