Prirazlomnoe is the first offshore oil field, which is under development in the Russian Arctic. The operator Sevorneftegaz, which is owned by Gazprom, decided early that the field should be developed without foreign help. Now, many international companies are questioning whether the Russian oil industry is able to complete such large projects on it own.
Since the first drilling was performed on the field in 1989, there have been mainly problems and delays in the project which according to the first time schedules was to be ready for production in 2003. No a new date is set for 2010.
– There is presented a new plan for completion and according to several sources 78-80 percent of the project is finished, says Arild Moe at the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen Institute to newspaper Dagens Næringsliv.
The project probably was initiated without really knowing what was needed and which technology should be used, says Moe. The planned development models have been changed several times, and Sevmorneftegaz has used billions of EUR without producing a drop of oil.
– The Russians have been good at developing oil fields onshore, but offshore they will need competence from abroad, says Kåre Storvik in Norwegian Sherpa Consulting.
The latest development in the projects is the construction of an artificial island which will be a fundament for the production platform. As BarentsObserver has written earlier, Sevmorneftegaz now has opened for foreign companies to help with the project. However, no contracts have yet been signed.
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