Testing centres to be built to test equipment for work on Arctic shelf

Oil and gas equipment for operations on the Arctic shelf will be tested at new testing centres that are being established, according to materials prepared for the final session of the collegium of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for 2016.

“The infrastructural foundation ‘Arctic GOST’ will also be established and consist of three testing centres that will test oil, gas and mining equipment designed for work in Arctic conditions”, the materials state.

There are plans in 2017 to approve a sub-programme to build oil, gas and mining engineering equipment and technologies for the development of the Arctic as part of the state programme for the socioeconomic development of the Arctic zone for the period until 2020, TASS news agency reports. The Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that implementing this sub-programme will reduce the share of foreign equipment used to develop the Arctic from 85% to 65% by 2020 and to 50% by 2025.

Total manufacturing of oil and gas engineering products increased by 7% to RUB 251 billion in 2016, while exports of such products grew by 20% to USD 395.7 million.