Hunting high and low for Russian gas
Gazprom intends to develop an aerospace system, as well as submarines and underwater complexes, in its search for new hydrocarbons.
Gazprom has been criticized for not investing sufficiently in innovative technologies. Now the company hits back. The new innovation programme approved by the company’s Board of Directors on 1 June includes a number of unprecedented initiatives.
By 2018, Gazprom is to develop and apply an aerospace system, which is help it search and locate new resources. Already before that, in 2016, the company will start “distant reconnaissance” of the planet.
In addition, the company will launch an extensive programme on mapping of subsea resources. By year 2023, a manned underwater facility will be developed, as well as a remote controlled complex. The company also intends to build a new kind of jack-up rigs, specialized for all-year operations in Arctic ice conditions, Nanonewsnet.ru reports.
The programme will include total investments of 2.7 trillion RUB by year 2020, of which the lion’s share (1.5 trillion RUB) will be spent in the period 2015-2020.
The innovation programme also includes a number of more conventional measures like the introduction of innovating technologies in production, processing and transport, as well as in energy saving and environmental protection, the company informs.
