Arctic Offshore Research Articles

Social-ecological resilience in extreme natural environments: a multiple case study of Arctic offshore supply ecosystems

Social-ecological resilience in extreme natural environments: a multiple case study of Arctic offshore supply ecosystems

Ignorance and Environmental History: The Opening of an Arctic Offshore Oil Frontier, 1968–1976

Ignorance holds untapped explanatory power for environmental history, in the Arctic and beyond. I define ignorance as a state of limited knowledge, held by groups, and produced through social processes. The case study is the opening of an oil frontier in the Canadian Beaufort Sea between 1968 and 1976. Drawing from a growing body of scholarship on ignorance, as well as newly available governmental and oil industry records, I review three concepts environmental historians can use to analyse the production of ignorance. These concepts are: proprietary knowledge, selective transmission and undone research. Taken together, these concepts make visible a set of political, economic and environmental conditions that allowed ignorance to shape the approval of the first offshore drilling programme in the Canadian Beaufort Sea. Ultimately, this case study demonstrates that ignorance – like its cousins doubt or uncertainty – has been a resource that extractive industries and governmental regulators have manipulated to navigate evolving requirements of environmental planning.

Limited increases in Arctic offshore oil and gas production with climate change and the implications for energy markets

Climate change impacts on sea ice thickness is opening access to offshore Arctic resources. The degree to which these resources are exploited will depend on sea-ice conditions, technology costs, international energy markets, and the regulatory environment. We use an integrated human-Earth system model, GCAM, to explore the effects of spatial–temporal patterns of sea-ice loss under climate change on future Arctic offshore oil and gas extraction, considering interactions with global energy markets and emission reduction scenarios. We find that under SSP5, a “fossil-fueled development” scenario, the effects of sea-ice loss are larger for Arctic offshore oil production than gas. Under SSP5, future extraction of Arctic offshore oil and gas through 2100 adds roughly 0.8–2.6 EJ/year to oil and gas markets but does not have large impacts on global oil and gas markets. Surprisingly, a low-carbon scenario results in greater Arctic offshore oil production to offset the more emissions-intensive unconventional oil production.

An agent-based modelling framework for performance assessment of search and rescue operations in the Barents Sea

In recent years, the increase in Arctic offshore activities has raised concerns about the search and rescue (SAR) operations as mitigative measures to ensure the safety of shipping and cruise activities. Performing SAR operations in the remote Arctic offshore environment is exceptionally challenging due to the severe environmental conditions, including low temperatures, high waves, strong winds, heavy snow showers, sea ice, spray icing, dense fog, limited visibility, and polar low pressures. Moreover, the scarcity of port infrastructure along the Arctic coastline exacerbates the difficulties faced during SAR operations. Tackling the aforementioned challenges necessitates a comprehensive modelling framework for analysis of SAR operations in the Arctic that is able to consider the dynamics and uncertain nature of Arctic harsh environmental conditions, and the constraints imposed by the limited capacity of Arctic SAR infrastructure. To this aim, this paper proposes an agent-based modelling (ABM) framework to assess the performance of SAR operations while tackling such challenges in the Arctic. A Monte Carlo simulation approach is used to model the dynamics and uncertainty of weather and sea conditions using historical data, using which some severity levels are determined. Expert judgement process is then used quantify the impacts of such severity levels on the performance of rescue agents, and thus, on the total rescue time. To validate the proposed framework, an illustrative case in the Norwegian Barents Sea is considered, where the performance of SAR infrastructure is examined under different rescue scenarios. According to the results of this paper, the total rescue time is the longest during December to February, and the shortest rescue time is associated with months May to August. Some recommendations are further proposed to improve the performance of SAR infrastructure in the Barents Sea.

Noise and Vibration Recorded on Selected New Generation DP Class Shuttle Tankers Operated in the Arctic Offshore Sector

Noise and Vibration Recorded on Selected New Generation DP Class Shuttle Tankers Operated in the Arctic Offshore Sector

Возможности транспортировки арктической нефти на НПЗ Республики Башкортостан

Communications play an important role in the economic development of states and regions, in the development of new markets by connecting distributed areas of economic activity. The modern sanction economy is characterised by the change of economic partners and, accordingly, communication direc-tions. Thus, the vector of Arctic oil exports is shifting to the Asia-Pacific region, which increases the role of maritime communications for its transport. At the same time, from a practical point of view, it can be as-sumed that Arctic oil can become one of the resources of domestic refineries. The aim of the study was to consider the possibilities of providing the oldest oil refining complex of the Republic of Bashkortostan with Arctic oil and to build a basic scheme of spatial organisation of communications linking the economic space of Russia. Achievement of the set goal required the solution of the following tasks: to determine the role of Russia in the world oil exports on the basis of “bp Statistical Review of World Energy”; to conduct a comprehensive analysis of studies of domestic scientists on the issues of oil production, sales and refining, as well as promising Arctic offshore projects; and to consider the features of the oil refining industry of Russia and, in particular, the Republic of Bashkortostan. As a result of the research, the conclusions about the prospectivity of Arctic oil production and about the possibilities of its delivery to the refineries of the Republic of Bashkortostan have been obtained; for these purposes, a principal scheme of spatial organisation of communications linking oil deliveries from Arctic offshore fields to refineries in Ufa of the Republic of Bashkortostan has been developed.

Experimental and analytical study on the double steel plates-UHPC sandwich slabs under low-velocity impact

The upgrading of protective structures can be realized through the application of new materials or the innovation of structural forms. A novel double steel plates–concrete (DSC) sandwich structure constructed with an ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) core forming a DSUHPC sandwich structure could be applied in Arctic offshore platforms as protective layers. This structure can withstand dynamic pressure derived from impacting ice sheets and vehicles in serve cold regions. This paper presents the dynamic behavior of these DSUHPC sandwich slabs subjected to drop-weight impact load. The superiority of protective performance of DSUHPC sandwich structure was revealed in contrast with the perforation failure mode of reinforced concrete (RC) slabs subjected to the same impact energy. Moreover, the brittleness of concrete material under dynamic load was alleviated by adding steel fibers compared with double steel plates–normal strength concrete (DSNC) sandwich slabs, showing effectiveness in the improvement of material utilization and energy dissipation. Further, the diverse dynamic response of DSUHPC sandwich slabs with different steel plate thicknesses and under different impact velocities was also studied. Finally, a two-degree-of-freedom model was established to predict the time–history curves of impact force and displacement. The acceptable accuracy of the proposed analytical model was demonstrated.

Пространственная организация освоения газовых ресурсов арктического шельфа Российской Федерации

Being strategic, the Arctic shelf is a region with an extremely low level of exploration. The undiscovered hydrocarbon resources on the Russian Arctic shelf exceed 90%. The long-term development of strategic programs and projects for the development of gas production on the shelf are constrained by insufficient technical accessibility of industrial development, as well as the difficulty of assessing the actual volume of initial potential oil and gas resources. The reproduction of free gas reserves has been assessed, the level of parity between production and growth of explored reserves has been determined. The state of the gas resources of the Arctic shelf was studied taking into account localization in oil and gas regions, which allowed to make a conclusion about the degree of exploration of the resource base and to identify the basis for the gas potential. The factors restraining the development of offshore projects were identified and analyzed. It was determined that offshore projects should be presented to investors with more attractive operational, technological and economic indicators than alternative onshore projects. The lack of tested methods for the development of hydrocarbons at superdeep depths under severe ice conditions does not allow to fully assessing the economic efficiency of offshore gas projects in the Arctic. It is concluded that within the resource base of Arctic offshore fields, it is necessary to allocate the static (probabilistic) potential of hydrocarbon resources of the Arctic region. The need to transform the Arctic foreign policy is identified.

The response of layered seabed to ice gouging: Sand over clay

Travelling icebergs may threaten the structural integrity of the offshore pipelines in any territories they can reach. Arctic offshore pipelines are usually buried for physical protection against ice gouging. The safe and cost-effective burial depth of these pipelines needs to be determined by accurately assessing the subgouge soil deformation and the ice keel-seabed contact forces. Layered seabed soil strata found in many geographical locations add to the complexity of assessing the ice keel-seabed interaction process. The currently used design codes have been developed for uniform soil strata-an assumption that may affect the accuracy and cost-effectiveness of the design. In this study, the significance of layered sand over clay seabed in the ice gouging process was investigated by performing large deformation finite element (LDFE) analysis using Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) approach. A comprehensive parametric study was conducted to assess the influence of ice gouging characteristics and soil properties on the subgouge soil deformation, the developed plastic shear strains, and the resultant ice keel reaction forces. The results showed that the seabed response to ice gouging largely depends on the soil strata, where the layers’ interaction effects can alter the usual response expected from a uniform seabed.

Iceberg-seabed interaction analysis in sand by a random forest algorithm

Iceberg-seabed interaction that threatens subsea pipelines and structures is a challenging and costly engineering design aspect of Arctic offshore infrastructures. In this study, the sub-gouge soil deformation in the sand along with the keel reaction forces was simulated using Random Forest (RF) as a strong machine learning (ML) model and compared with the Gradient Boosting Model (GBM), and Support Vector Regression (SVR) as other alternatives. Nine RF models were built based on the most influential parameters and the best model was identified by performing a sensitivity analysis. The study showed that the proposed RF model outperformed its counterparts and proved to be a cost-effective and reliable alternative to assess the iceberg-seabed interaction in the sand, particularly at the early stages of the projects, where a fast and accurate estimation is required for planning the construction methodologies, logistics, and the scope of detailed engineering.

Effect of Temperature Conditions in Arctic Offshore Oil Fields on the Rheological Properties of Various Based Drilling Muds

During well drilling in offshore conditions beyond the North of the Arctic Circle, there are often problems associated with deviations in the rheological parameters of the drilling mud as the temperature changes. Mud temperature in the upper part of the well in most cases is in the range up to 20 °C, whereas in the productive formation it is up to 80 °C and more. For such conditions, it is necessary to estimate the influence of temperature on the rheological parameters of drilling fluids, which is done in this paper. Compositions of water-based and hydrocarbon-based muds that may be used in the conditions of the offshore hydrocarbon fields were considered. The paper presents the authors’ formula for a drilling mud that possesses more stable rheological parameters in the temperature conditions of the offshore oil field and is more environmentally friendly. The physical properties of the newly designed drilling mud were measured with laboratory equipment. Rheological investigations were carried out under varying temperatures up to 80 °C. The results of the experiments show the newly designed drilling mud to be more stable than its hydrocarbon-based analogue. Besides, the newly developed composition has a lower content of solid phase, which is also an important parameter for the process of sea wells construction, often characterized by a narrow window of permissible pressure.

Iceberg-seabed interaction evaluation in clay seabed using tree-based machine learning algorithms

In Arctic offshore regions, the oil and gas hydrocarbons are transferred to the onshore basins through the subsea pipelines. However, the operational integrity of the subsea pipeline may be at risk of collision with traveling icebergs, which gouge the seabed in the Arctic shallow waters. Even though these sea bottom-founded structures are buried at a secure depth below the seafloor, the pipeline is still threatened by the ice scouring event extended much deeper than the ice tip due to the shear resistance of the seabed soil. Modeling the sub-gouge soil characteristics is a challenging problem that requires costly experimental and long-running finite element (FE) simulations. To overcome these challenges, in this paper, the reaction forces and sub-gouge soil deformations in clay were modeled using an advanced extra tree regression (ETR) algorithm, as a quick and cost-effective alternative for the early design phases of pipeline engineering projects. Eight ETR models, ETR 1 to ETR 8, were developed by using the input parameters governing the iceberg-seabed interaction problem. The collected data were randomly split into 70% for training the machine learning (ML) models and 30% for testing purposes. The most accurate ETR models and the most significant input parameters were identified by performing a sensitivity analysis. The comparison of the most accurate ETR models and decision tree regression (DTR), random forest regression (RFR), and gradient boosting regression (GBR) algorithms proved that the ETR models had better performance to simulate the ice keel seabed interaction in clay.

Strategic risk management of development of the Arctic offshore fields

The authors of the article study the basic risks in development of hydrocarbon offshore fields in the Arctic as well as methods of managing the existing risks. Development of hydrocarbon offshore fields in the Arctic is connected with numerous challenges due to its unique natural and climatic conditions (ice pack, squally winds, rough sea, etc.). Any activity in such conditions makes high demands for the investment (realization of such projects is extremely capital intensive) and for environmental and industrial security. Due to the high level of work complexity currently only one offshore field is being developed in the Arctic. However, Russian energy companies are considering the perspective possibility of extraction of hydrocarbon resources in such conditions. In order to explore the Arctic offshore fields efficiently it is necessary to apply the methods of risk management which are able to minimize the possibility of unwanted events. In most cases the method of risk management is chosen depending on the stage of realization of the project on developing an offshore field: prospecting, exploration or exploitation of a deposit. The authors of the article conditionally divide the risk management methods into two categories: universal (which can be applied at any of the above mentioned stages of the deposit's development) and unique (to be used only at one certain stage). The analysis conducted made it possible to reveal the main advantages and disadvantages of the risk management methods under consideration. The combination of universal and unique methods became the basis for the risk management system which takes into account the specifics of the stages of development of Arctic offshore hydrocarbon fields.

Staffing for the development of the Arctic offshore hydrocarbon fields

ABSTRACT The development of offshore deposits of hydrocarbon resources requires the involvement of not only advanced equipment and technologies, but also highly qualified specialists, the creation of educational and research centers. It is extremely important to find a rational strategy for offshore production and use of natural resources, harmonized with socio-economic objectives in order to preserve the vulnerable nature and ethnic heritage of the Russian Arctic, as well as to determine the optimal number of personnel involved in projects. The most important tool for strategic planning in the development of offshore hydrocarbon fields will be the proposed model of the balance between the existing human potential and the need for it, reflecting the specifics of the requirements and competencies for human resources at the stages of geological exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas raw materials. The results of the authors' research on the analysis of the staffing of projects for the hydrocarbon resources development in the Arctic and the tools for forecasting and planning the number of personnel of a certain qualification for work in the Arctic zone, described in this paper, can be used in a comprehensive analysis of the needs for the provision of existing and prospective projects in the Arctic.

An Artificial Bee Colony optimization-based approach for sizing and composition of Arctic offshore drilling support fleets considering cost-efficiency

ABSTRACT This article presents an optimization-based approach for sizing and composition of an Arctic offshore drilling support fleet considering cost-efficiency. The approach studies the main types of duties related to Arctic offshore drillings: supply, towing, anchor handling, standby, oil spill response, firefighting, and ice management. The approach considers the combined effect of the expected costs of accidental events, the versatility of individual support vessels, and ice management. The approach applies an Artificial Bee Colony algorithm-based optimization procedure. As demonstrated through case studies, the approach may help to find a range of cost-efficient fleet compositions. Some of the obtained solutions are similar to corresponding real-life fleets, indicating that the approach works in principle. Sensitivity analyses indicate that the consideration of the expected costs from accidental events significantly impacts the obtained solution, and that investments to reduce these costs may improve the overall cost-efficiency of an Arctic offshore drilling support fleet.

Strategic Sustainability of Offshore Arctic Oil and Gas Projects: Definition, Principles, and Conceptual Framework

Exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Arctic offshore is one of Russia’s key priorities in such areas as science, economy, and technology. Global trends, harsh climate conditions, fragile ecosystems, conditions of the pandemic and post-pandemic periods, price volatility, and the growing importance of the environmental factor require that the process of developing the Arctic’s hydrocarbon resources should become strategically sustainable. The paper provides a deep literature review on sustainability issues, sustainable development, strategic sustainability, and project efficiency in the Arctic offshore oil and gas sector. The paper analyzes the trends and conditions that substantiate the need to transform the traditional sustainability concept to meet new challenges and comply with new policies. Based on the analysis, the authors propose a definition of and a conceptual framework for strategic sustainability of oil and gas offshore projects in the Arctic.

Анализ необходимых функций программы – цифрового ассистента для арктических морских буровых платформ

This paper describes the study intended to work out functionality requirements of a digital assistant software for Arctic offshore drilling platforms. The study followed the method of logical analysis. The criteria used to formulate key requirements to the software functionality were based on the interview with competent experts working at marine drilling platforms and chosen as per their respective work experience in offshore drilling. Arctic developments have become especially relevant in the last years because oil and gas reserves of the Eastern Siberia and mainland fields in the Russian North are depleting, so it becomes necessary to go for offshore oil and gas in the Arctic. The progress in digital technologies is one of the ways to make Arctic oil & gas production more efficient and safe, which is especially relevant taking into account its harsh environments. Development and induction of personalized tools could improve both occupational and personal discipline of the staff manning offshore platforms, as well as optimize working hours and mitigate industrial injuries.

Концепция обустройства газоконденсатного месторождения на арктическом шельфе

This paper compares different variants for development of gas-condensate fields in harsh Arctic environments. These variants were based on a case study (development of Arctic offshore gas condensate field) presented at RAO/CIS Offshore 2021 conference during a panel discussion of young scientists. The paper discusses and analyses main solutions in the suggested concepts, highlighting their common points and identifying their advantages and drawbacks. As a result, the authors suggest a generic development concept for an imaginary gascondensate field that might be the most promising from the technical standpoint and also in terms of cost efficiency. This concept could be regarded as a baseline solution for development tasks of real Arctic fields.

Basic Principles (Indicators) for Assessing the Technical and Economic Potential of Developing Arctic Offshore Oil and Gas Fields

Sustainable development of the Arctic is the main priority of the state policy regarding regional development of the Russian Federation. The study of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation for the formation of principles, methods and strategies, as well as organizational and economic mechanisms for its sustainable development is topical at present. This article deals with one of the strategic decision-making tools used in the process of implementing the development program for the Russian Arctic, namely, the assessment of the technical and economic potential of the Arctic fields. The purpose of this assessment is to rank the fields according to the priority of their commissioning for a more optimal distribution of costs in the development of Arctic resources. This paper presents the results and methodology of technical and economic potential estimation in general, and the potential of the Arctic oil and gas fields in particular. An analysis of the conceptual apparatus in the field of the evaluation of various types of potential is carried out. The methodology for assessing the technical and economic potential of a field are investigated. The problems arising in the process of such an assessment are revealed. Recommendations for improving the methodology of assessing the technical and economic potential of oil and gas fields in the Arctic are given. The necessity of expanding the list of indicators for assessing the technical and economic potential of these fields, taking into account current trends, has been noted. A list of 10 technical and 26 economic indicators to assess the technical and economic potential of the development of offshore Arctic fields is proposed.

The \u2018excess gas\u2019 method for laboratory formation of methane hydrate-bearing sand: geotechnical application

Over recent years, there has been a growing interest in producing methane gas from hydrate-bearing sands (MHBS) located below the permafrost in arctic regions and offshore within continental margins. Geotechnical stability of production wellbores is one of the significant challenges during the gas extraction process. The vast majority of geotechnical investigations of MHBS have been conducted on laboratory-formed samples due to the complex procedure of undisturbed sample extraction. One of the most commonly used hydrate laboratory-formation methods is the excess-gas method. This work investigates fundamental aspects in the excess-gas formation of MHBS that are affecting the geotechnical interpretation and modeling. The work finds that (1) the measured temperature in the experimental system may be quite different from the in-sample temperature, and can reach 4 ^circC difference during thermodynamic processes. This potential difference must be considered in investigation of hydrate formation or dissociation, (2) various calculation approaches may yield different hydrate saturation values of up to tens of percentages difference in high hydrate saturations. The calculation formulas are specified together with the fundamental difference between them, (3) the water mixture method during the sample assembling is critical for homogeneous MHBS laboratory formation, in which a maximum initial water content threshold of 9.1 to 1.3 % are obtained for a minimal fraction size of 0.01 to 0.8 mm, respectively, (4) the hydrate formation duration may influence the MHBS properties, and should be rigorously estimated according to the real-time gas consumption convergence. The outcomes of this work may contribute to the integration of data sets derived from various experiments for the study of MHBS mechanical behavior.