OREANDA-NEWS. December 13, 2010. LUKOIL summed up the environmental monitoring results of the Kravtsovskoye (D-6) offshore oil field located in the Baltic Sea. The work was conducted at the Company’s request in 2009.

Due to the fact that no new wells had been drilled at the field over the recent years, the scope of the environmental monitoring was somewhat reduced, mainly as far as regional monitoring is concerned, while local monitoring in the vicinity of the offshore ice-resistant fixed platform and the subsea pipeline was conducted practically on the same scale.

Intact monitoring was performed in the vicinity of the Kurshskaya Kosa, the Russian and Lithuanian natural and cultural UNESCO World Heritage site. Satellite monitoring of the oil contaminated sea surface based on radar images analysis was carried out as well. Monthly ship observations were performed from motor boats in the immediate vicinity of the offshore ice-resistant fixed platform and at the coastal monitoring points.

An autonomous bottom station assembled in the vicinity of the offshore ice-resistant fixed platform made continuous acoustic measurements of the currents. Meteorological information was collected from the automated hydrometeostation assembled at the platform and from the coastal meteostations. The network formed by the four autonomous seismic stations assembled at the sea floor and ashore enabled to obtain new data on seismic activity in the monitoring area. Radar measurements of the surface currents were made and compared with the wind properties in the area of subsea pipeline entry from the sea floor to the shore. Pilot studies of the bottom vegetation were carried out, monitoring of petroleum products content in the water was performed, and oil and fuel oil pollution of beaches was monitored in the coastal area.

In 2009, 192 radar images were obtained and analyzed. Among them 146 images were made by ENVISAT(ESA) satellite, 6 images – by RADARSAT1 (CSA) satellite and 40 images – by RADARSAT2(MDA) satellite. Ninety spills were detected, including 44 spills in the monitoring area. No spills were detected in the vicinity of the offshore ice-resistant fixed platform and the subsea pipeline route during the whole year. Vessels are considered the major source of the sea surface oil contamination.

Thus, the industrial environmental monitoring results of the Kravtsovskoye (D-6) oil field confirm zero impact by the offshore oil production on the ecosystem of the Southern-Eastern Baltic Sea in 2009 and sufficiency of the measures taken by the LUKOIL Company to ensure environmental safety. LUKOIL has been conducting annual environmental monitoring of the Kravtsovskoye (D-6) field since 2003.