In the past year, there have been both discoveries and setbacks in the Arctic. Operating in this highly diverse and complex region requires a combination of advanced technology, viable economics and political will. Bradd Libby, DNV GL, Norway, elaborates.

Technological development

Snøhvit gas field, north of Hammerfest, Norway, was built to export to North America, but the past decade’s shale revolution is reducing US gas imports. At the same time, shale developments within the Arctic could help turn Alaska’s fortunes around. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates the North Slope holds up to 2 billion bbls of shale oil, enough to fill the TAPS for about a decade.

To enhance the viability of the Northern Sea Route and help the Yamal region, which already produces 85% of Russia’s gas, to compete in supplying LNG to Asian customers, Russia is constructing new icebreakers, including the LK60, which would be the world’s largest, and a fleet of ice-capable tankers to service Sabetta port, a US$ 30 billion facility planned to operate year-round. This project alone will increase shipping along the Northern Sea Route nearly twentyfold. Other projects elsewhere in the European and Russian Arctic are likely to increase traffic through this route as well, as it is the shortest to East Asia.

Numerous areas are in need of technological development: subsea production helps to reduce the number of people needed offshore, but poses new problems of supplying energy and servicing equipment. Marintek in Trondheim, Norway, is developing service submarines for seabed facilities. Andrew Gould of BG Group suggests that remote control through communication technology can also reduce the number of people needed offshore.

Efforts are also needed to increase safety and reduce the impact of operations in Arctic regions, such as low emission LNG-powered vessels and optimal routing and ice management algorithms. In September a tanker Russian authorities claim was not suitable for conditions on the Northern Sea Route was holed by an ice floe. Special ship designs, such as double-acting hulls, oblique icebreakers and X-bow vessels could prove superior to existing vessels in Arctic conditions.

To reduce the threat of sea spray icing, DNV GL, Statoil and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (with funding from the Research Council of Norway) have been making field measurements, both controlled experiments on land and observations on vessels, and performing CFD simulations which show areas of a ship or rig at risk for high icing loads (Figure 3). Additional DNV GL projects are devoted to optimising shipping routes through icy waters, dynamic positioning in ice-covered waters, and optimal ice management.

In general, science-based updates to winterisation standards and a mandatory Polar Code for vessel operations are gaining in importance.

Recovery of oil in icy environments and mitigation of its environmental impact are also areas of intense research interest. For the past 20 - 30 years, drilling technology has improved by leaps and bounds, but oil spill response remained at fairly basic levels. Combined infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) scanners can help detect oil on the surface of the water or ice. Eni has already equipped its fleet of emergency vessels in the Barents with cameras by Aptomar, a Norwegian company.

Environmental changes: the new abnormal

Additional technology in the form of sensors, satellites and drones is desperately needed for environmental monitoring as the pace of changes in the Arctic is rapid, nonlinear and notoriously subject to short-term reversals.

Arctic-wide, the September minimum sea ice extent reached its lowest ever in 2012. In addition, “measurements from submarines have shown that [Arctic sea ice] has lost at least 40% of its thickness since the 1980s, and if you consider the shrinkage as well it means that the summer ice volume is now only 30% of what it was in the 1980s,” said Peter Wadhams of the University of Cambridge.

Suitable navigational charts in many areas are woefully inadequate and measurements of winds, wave heights and animal populations limited. One of the greatest resources available, indigenous knowledge of the local environment, has been underutilised, as again there is not one Arctic, but many. “The southern Barents Sea is more akin to the North Sea than the Arctic,” said Ashley Heppenstall, CEO of Lundin. However, the extent of ice in the Bering Sea (between Alaska and Russia) in recent years has set record highs. In the end, it is the intensely local conditions of resources, politics, technology and the environment that will determine the viability of each activity in this last frontier. 

References

1. Øystein Michelsen, Statoil’s executive vice president for development and production in Norway, http://www.statoil.com/en/NewsAndMedia/News/2013/Pages/05Jun_Castberg.aspx (Accessed 24/10/2013).
2. Jim Paulin, Alaska Dispatch, http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130318/southwest-alaska-towns-hope-share-arctic-oil-boom (Accessed 24/10/2013).

Part 1 of this article can be reached here.

Part 2 of this article can be reached here.

Adapted by David Bizley

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/exploration/06112013/preparing_for_the_arctic_rush_part_3/