Prirazlomnaya platform: photo

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, opening up new deposits. By the end of the 1980s, after going beyond the boundaries of the land, the researchers engaged in the water area of the Arctic. As a result, huge reserves were discovered on the shelf, the development of which can significantly change the situation on the world oil and gas market.

Sea ice-resistant fixed platform "Prirazlomnaya": value

It should be noted that finding a deposit, in principle, does not amount to as much labor as the subsequent extraction of discovered fossils. Over the centuries, the harsh nature of the Arctic did not allow a person to invade its limits. However, with the increase in fuel prices, coupled with the development and introduction of new technologies, there was a need to increase the country's national reserves. Therefore, work began on the platform. "Prirazlomnaya" for Russia is not only an object from which it is possible to receive super-profits. Fuel extraction activities will provide the country with the status of a great arctic state, will enhance the prestige of the state through the development of a high-tech industry. Next, consider how the "Prirazlomnaya" platform began to function. Photos, a brief description and problems will also be given in the article.

Features of the area

In the 1990-2000-ies on the conduct of serious activities on the shelf have not yet been spoken. However, the government together with the branch enterprises formed a set of priority deposits in the Arctic. One of them became a site on the shelf in the Pechora Sea, relatively close to the coast (60 km). The depth here is also relatively small - 19-20 meters. However, this does not mean at all that there were no difficulties in ensuring the functioning. "Prirazlomnaya" platform should 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 weather 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, the region periodically drifts fields.

Estimated launch dates

World history does not know the analogues of the Gazprom project for oil production at the Prirazlomnoye field. Therefore, in terms of state prestige, the development of the shelf was an extremely important task. However, while striving to establish such a record, direct economic benefits may be lost. In the 1990s, the Prirazlomnaya platform began to be built. It was built on Sevmash. However, due to lack of funding, this project was frozen. The idea was returned in 2000. At that time, it remained unclear 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 terms have shifted for 8 years at least. Gazprom planned to begin development in 2013. But even at that time the subsequent correction of the term was not excluded. Earlier, the deadlines also shifted: from 2010 to 2011 and then to 2010.

Building

At Sevmash in the early 2000s, they decided to shorten the timeframe during which Prirazlomnaya was supposed to be created. The platform (the photo below illustrates the general view of the structure) was built in parts. First of all, we started to create the lower half - the caisson. The upper part, including residential blocks, it was decided to buy later on the side. In 2002 Sevmash paid attention to the Hatton platform. It once worked in the North Sea and was written off at the end of the operational period. If domestic buyers turned to later, "Hatton" would be cut to scrap metal.

The first scandal

He was associated with the purchase of the platform "Hatton". This transaction was extremely opaque. During 2002, the platform was resold several times. The first transaction took place at a price of $ 29 million, and then the offshore company Monitor TLP Ltd decommissioned the complex was sold to Russia already for $ 67 million. The Norwegian press, however, indicated other amounts (60.7 and 83.2 million). At the same time, it was stipulated that the difference between these figures is the net profit of Monitor. It is not known what really happened - Russia overpaid or did not pay this offshore. However, at domestic specialized forums interested in these transactions, citations of Norwegian publications were cited. In particular, one of them said that Russia was eyeing other stations, including a platform that operated in Alaska. Its cost, according to some sources, was estimated at $ 60 million. Domestic companies found it too high.

History with radioactivity

It should be said that suspicious value is not the only problem with which Prirazlomnaya is connected. The platform "Hatton", as Arkhangelsk journalists found out, turned out to be radioactive. And before beginning the modernization of the upper part, we had to clean the lower sector. However, the radioactivity story was not widely publicized and therefore did not cause a public outcry.

Completion of construction

Several years on the Sevmash modernized the caisson and adapted the upper part of the foreign platform. The construction in the docks was completed by the summer of 2011. As a result, a square OIRFP "Prirazlomnaya" was built - a platform with sides at 126 m at the base level and with a caisson height of 24.3 m (with a deflector of 40.5 m). It was supposed to make 36 wells, 19 of which are mining. Upon completion of the construction, the Prirazlomnaya drilling platform went off to its only voyage - to the field.

Infrastructure

It was created in parallel with the construction and modernization. The most important components of the infrastructure were to be two tankers. In the all-the-year-round mode, they had to take the extracted raw materials from the field. I must say that the tank, which has the platform "Prirazlomnaya", has a rather large volume - about 100 thousand tons. Nevertheless, in case of reaching the designed 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 be sent from the station every 5-6 days. They themselves were built on time (which can not 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 the same year, a million barrel was mined.

Features of the structure

"Prirazlomnaya" is a platform through which a complex of technological operations is performed. It is designed in such a way that the maximum safety of mining of raw materials is ensured. The caisson simultaneously acts as an oil storage facility. The raw material storage system provides a wet method for its placement in reservoirs. At the same time, the oil that enters the storage pushes out ballast water. When pumping out, it happens vice versa: the raw material is replaced by water. This, in turn, excludes the penetration of oxygen in the tank and ensures that there is no free space for the accumulation of explosive gases. The oil platform Prirazlomnaya 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 and gas situation is provided. If necessary, the system activates emergency shutdown of technological processes and equipment. The operation is fully automated, which reduces the human factor to zero.

"Prirazlomnaya" platform: Greenpeace (2013)

In September of this year, activists of Greenpeace attempted to hold a protest action to protest the functioning of the facility. On inflatable boats, six people descended from the Arctic Sunrise vessel and approached the structure. During the appearance of activists, as noted by the executive director of Gazprom Neft-Shelf Lubin, underwater work was carried out. Divers performed mandatory monitoring of the technical condition of the liquidated wells, fish protection devices, embankments around the structure. The consequences of the activists' actions could become the most unpredictable, and for the submariners - the tragic. Officers of the Special Forces of the FSB of the Russian Federation for Murmansk Region detained two activists. They were taken aboard the PKSR "Ladoga". During the operation, a warning fire was fired from an artillery unit located on the border ship and an AK-47 assault rifle. The ship of Greenpeace activists was forcibly stopped, detained and escorted to Murmansk. According to the investigation committee, the actions of representatives of the environmental organization can be regarded as piracy. In turn, activists protesting that the ice-resistant platform "Prirazlomnaya" continued functioning, qualified the incident as illegal seizure of a vessel that was not part of the restricted area. Later, the SC of the Russian Federation assessed the actions of the organization's representatives as hooliganism.

Risks

Environmental organizations that oppose the offshore platform Prirazlomnaya continued to function, said that Russia is a state with the largest reserves of fuel, so it makes no sense to start developing deposits in extreme conditions. Particular concern is the reservoir. If anything happens to him, then 100,000 tons of oil will pour out. This threatens a global natural catastrophe.