OREANDA-NEWS. January 15, 2013.  Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:  Dmitry Medvedev: Today we will be discussing the outlook for developing and studying the reserves of Russia’s continental shelf. Without a doubt, this is one of the key priorities of the national energy sector. We must do everything possible to secure the rational use of these reserves while taking the necessary decisions and working to develop the continental shelf. Our future is connected with the development of Eastern Siberia, the Yamal Peninsula and the Arctic shelf and the Far Eastern seas.

It is clear that shelf projects are more expensive than projects to develop onshore reserves. What do we need? We need to create the necessary infrastructure, namely special port facilities, offshore platforms, ice-class tankers, auxiliary vessels and other infrastructure elements. Of course, we also need reliable geological information, which, I must say, is lacking. We also need modern exploration, production and hydrocarbon transportation technologies, including underwater technologies, which is a highly complex issue, as we know. Furthermore, we need an understandable and sustainable legislation to be able to take long-term decisions. Due to the specifics of offshore projects, all our decisions must be long-term. I believe that everyone who plans to implement offshore projects must understand this. Only in this case will we be able to accumulate the necessary – and very large – financial resources for this.

I’d like to remind you that the draft programme for the development of the continental shelf and the production of its mineral reserves was discussed at a Government meeting last August. The Ministry of Natural Resources was instructed to work jointly with other departments and companies to improve the document. Today we will be discussing a number of parameters that are crucial for achieving the programme’s goals.

Before we begin, we need to discuss one more issue that not only has to do with Russia’s interests but concerns all countries: environmental security. Everyone remembers about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. We must reduce the possibility of such disasters to a minimum. In the past, Russia as a G8 member advanced the initiative of creating an international legal framework to prevent oil spills. This is extremely important, and we also need our national legislation to provide corresponding insurance and compensation instruments. We need to stimulate the creation of new technologies that will prevent damaging the unique Arctic ecosystem or will at least minimise the effects of these kinds of dangerous accidents.

In January this year, the President signed a bill amending the law on the continental shelf, which states that offshore projects will be approved only if they include spill prevention for oil and oil products, as well as relief plans and approved requirements for these plans.