Gazprom and more: all of Russia’s energy plans in the Arctic
Gazprom announces start of gas production in Russian Arctic. The Rosneft oil company, on the other hand, aims to transport its crude oil to Asia through the icy waters of the far north. Is sailing the Arctic seas really feasible?
Russia's state-owned gas company Gazprom announced today the start of production at the Semakovskoye gas field in the Arctic. The extracted gas is pumped into Russia's national grid. The production capacity of the project, in its initial phase, will be 7.5 billion cubic meters per year.
RUSSIA BECOMES THE ARCTIC
With sales of natural gas and oil in Europe, historically its main market, falling sharply, Russia is looking to redirect hydrocarbon exports to Asia, and in particular to China.
– Read also: Is the war in Ukraine degassing Gazprom?
To speed up oil shipments to China, in particular, Moscow is testing a shipping route passing through the Arctic, the so-called "Northern Sea Route".
Last month, the icebreaking tanker Vasily Dinkov set out along this route with a modest cargo of crude destined for China on board: from the port of Murmansk, in north-western Russia, it traveled up the northern coast of the country and crossed the Bering Strait (the one that separates eastern Russia from US Alaska) until you reach the Chinese port of Rizhao.
TIME ADVANTAGE
It is the shortest route – about 5,300 km, for a twenty-day journey – between Europe and East Asia: a Russian ship bound for China passing through the Suez Canal would take twice as long. However, navigation conditions in the Arctic are extremely difficult, between icebergs and very low temperatures.
IS SAILING IN THE ARCTIC POSSIBLE?
It is not clear, writes Bloomberg , whether Russia will be able to overcome these logistical difficulties and make the Northern Sea Route a convenient route for oil exports to China and the rest of Asia. Above all, it lacks tankers: those equipped with icebreakers like the Vasily Dinkov, and therefore able to face a similar journey, are just eight.
Trade passing through the Arctic, therefore, could only reach significant volumes in the summer, when climatic conditions are better.
Moreover, last month's shipment was only the second shipment of Russian crude to have traveled the Northern Sea Route: the first passage dates back to 2019.
WHAT ROSNEFT WANTS TO DO
The state-owned company Rosneft is carrying out an oil project in the Russian far north: called Vostok Oil, it consists of several oil fields and should reach a production of 500,000 barrels per day by 2024.
According to Rosneft, thanks to the construction (in progress) of a terminal in the Sever Bay, the crude oil extracted from the Vostok Oil fields will be able to be marketed via the Northern Sea Route.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/gazprom-e-non-solo-tutti-i-piani-energetici-della-russia-nellartico/ on Wed, 07 Dec 2022 06:51:40 +0000.