MOSCOW. Dec 27 (Interfax) - Russia is foreseeing a range of measures to ensure environmental safety during works to extract hydrocarbons in the Arctic, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said.
"The risk of polluting the marine environment of the Arctic could emerge amid the increase of oil and gas extraction intensity," Patrushev said in an interview with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper to be published on December 27.
"We see this threat clearly. We are foreseeing measures to eliminate it, including holding compulsory state environmental studies and assessing the impact on the environment of all the business projects planned in the Arctic zone," Patrushev said.
The Security Council started works on exploiting the Arctic and ensuring national safety in the area in 2008, Patrushev said. "Arctic resources are getting a bigger role in the global economy, the Arctic region is becoming the most important arena for the relations of Russia and foreign partners in the sphere of international, military, energy and information security," he said.
"The national transport system of Russia - the Northern Sea Route - goes here and active work on reclaiming new prospect deposits is being held. These are new jobs and areas of industrial growth," Patrushev said.
"As to the issue of ensuring national security when exploiting hydrocarbon resources, I want to note that Russia currently has quite modern and progressive technologies of extracting maritime hydrocarbons," Patrushev said.
In particular, the first maritime ice-resistant platform, designed and built in Russia, operates at the Prirazlomnoye oil field, Patrushev said. The implementation of the Yamal liquefied natural gas project with the capacity of 16.5 million tonnes liquefied natural gas is being prepared, he said.
"The project is a joint one. Russia's Novatek (MOEX: NVTK), the French company Total and Chinese corporation CNPC participate in it. The first stage for a plant with a capacity of 5.5 million tonnes is expected to be opened in 2016 and the plant should reach full capacity by 2018," Patrushev said.