The Contribution of Space Technologies to Arctic Policy Priorities

Norilsk Nickel Current use of satellite systems

Assessment of known and estimated resource base Comprehensive information on weather and ice conditions Detection and monitoring of pollution events Real-time satellite imagery and navigation data streams In-situ environmental observations Up-to-date infrastructure to support movement of goods and services Communications and broadband connections

B.3.6 Oil and Gas – Overview Oil and Gas Industry Perspectives Facts in Brief

Sector/industry: Oil and Gas Geographic area of operations: Arctic Consulted stakeholders: ExxonMobil, Suncor, Husky Energy, Statoil, Chevron, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Imperial Oil, ABS, Memorial University, CJK Engineering, AKAC, Marintek, NTNU Source: CARD (2012) Arctic Development Roadmap, C-CORE Report R-11-275001-CARD v2, January 2012. Environmental protection: constitutes the highest priority area since offshore activities in the Arctic cannot proceed until regulatory approvals are obtained and outstanding issues are addressed. Emergency scenarios (oil spill prevention and response) and operational considerations (emissions, pollution, noise and environmental footprint) constitute critical requirements. Ice management: detection, monitoring and forecasting of ice conditions, as well as physical ice management issues. The management of ice to support emergency response is critical. Field trials are necessary to demonstrate the effectiveness of ice management for different operating conditions, such as detecting and towing multi-year and glacial ice embedded in first-year pack ice.

Information needs and priorities

Ice mechanics and loading: improving understanding and modeling of ice loads and associated mechanics for different ice- structure interaction scenarios (e.g. ridge loads on sloping structures).

Station-keeping in Ice: maintaining station during operations in ice using either mooring or dynamic positioning systems. Station-keeping during emergency response is the limiting case used for design.

Environmental characterization: technology and data used in the characterization of ice and metocean conditions, as well as bathymetric, geotechnical, geophysical and other geospatial information.

Offshore safety and escape, evacuation, and rescue: issues related to the safety of personnel both in terms of operational safety and during emergency response scenarios.

Dredging and trenching: technology used to conduct and support dredging/trenching operations. A key issue is the design and development of improved dredging and trenching technologies capable of operation in harsh Arctic metocean, ice and geotechnical conditions. Another major issue is the very high cost associated with dredging and trenching operations. Simulation and training: development and use of simulation-based tools to evaluate the effectiveness of operational processes, and to assist in the training of personnel. The two main priority areas identified for application of simulation and training technology are in training personnel for escape, evacuation and rescue scenarios, and also for training personnel for oil spill response scenarios. Hydrocarbon export technologies: issues associated with delivering produced hydrocarbons to market. The main long- term issue identified in this category was the exploitation of stranded natural gas reserves. Floating liquefied natural gas technology was identified as an export technology of high priority due to its potential applicability in Arctic regions. Arctic drilling: drilling and completion of wells in Arctic regions. The top priority issues identified for this category were finding ways to reduce the extremely high cost of drilling in the Arctic and extending the drilling season to enable year-round drilling. Satellite-based technologies are currently being used to support navigation, communication and ice management operations in Arctic and ice-affected waters.

Current use of satellite systems Current use of satellite systems

Communications Weather and climate Navigation Earth observation Surveillance

81 B. INVENTORY OF ARCTIC POLICIES AND INDUSTRY INTERESTS