Sanctions on Russia to Freeze ExxonMobil's Arctic Drilling Efforts

Last week the U.S. Treasury Dept. issued new sanctions that are expected to force ExxonMobil to halt its current Arctic drilling operations, a $700 million dollar partnership with Russian energy company Rosneft. Earlier sanctions only applied to new financial transactions and therefore did not stop the energy giants from moving the West Alpha drilling rig hundreds of miles north of the Arctic Circle to begin drilling for oil in the Kara Sea. On August 9, Vladimir Putin gave the go-ahead to start drilling in the Universitetskaya (Университетская) Prospect, making this venture the northern-most oil well in Russia. However, ExxonMobil now has just until the end of the month to wrap up their operations.

ExxonMobil and Rosneft planned to complete the project during the brief ice-free season between August and October. In early July, barely a month before the West Alpha rig arrived from Norway, the Kara Sea was still covered in pack ice (above). 

As we’ve written before, there are a number of reasons to be concerned about drilling in the Arctic. We’re seen the devastation caused by a blowout in the relatively calm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and this drilling operation is 385 miles northeast of Gazprom’s controversial Prirazlomnaya platform that Greenpeace activists boarded last year.

What is so worrying about drilling in the Arctic? Aside from the unforgiving weather that can tear a 28,000 ton drill rig from its support vessels and toss it ashore like an unruly top, there are no technologies proven to clean up spilled oil from the ice that covers the region most of the year. Just consider what the Kara Sea looked like in July (above). At 68² km., the 11 km. long chunk of ice identified above is larger than Manhattan Island. Just think what one of these islands of ice, driven by the wind, could do to a drill rig engaged in the complex work of drilling for oil? According to Rosneft, the West Alpha rig has been outfitted with sensors to track advancing sea ice, and they claim to be able to shut-in in the well and move the rig if necessary. We’ll be watching to see how they do.

(Above) As of August 22 the pack ice had completely retreated, and fortunately, no signs of oil on the water. 

Clouds can often block the view of electro-optical satellites like Landsat, Terra, and Aqua, but advanced synthetic aperture radar (ASAR) on satellites like the European Space Agency’s Sentinel 1-A are able to peer through clouds and collect data on vessel locations, oil slicks, and sea ice, anytime day or night. While we wait for Sentinel to begin routine data collection, we are watching vessel activity around the West Alpha rig using satellite AIS data. AIS, or Automatic Information System, is a form of ship-to-ship communication that helps prevent collisions at sea by broadcasting a vessel’s speed, heading, and other useful information. (To read more about our work with satellite AIS, click here)

(Above): From our AIS data viewer we can view all of the broadcasting vessels operating around the West Alpha. This data also allows us to see if vessels appear to engage in oil-spill clean up operations, or if they are engaging in efforts to counteract advancing sea ice. 

Looking at Landsat’s 15-meter panchromatic band (Band 8), we can just make out the rig and some of its support vessels.

It is worth noting that the West Alpha rig has not broadcast its location since August 14. It is not to clear to us from IMO regulations if they are required to continually broadcast their location until they are safely back in port, but it is not uncommon for drill rigs to stop broadcasting when they are “on-station” and not moving.

According to Rosneft, “drilling will continue for two months.” Since Exxon has until the end of the September to wind down their partnership with Rosneft, and they have been drilling since early August, these sanctions present a worrying timeline. Exxon could conceivably rush to complete the well(s) before the Treasury Dept. deadline. We sincerely hope that operators at Exxon will proceed with caution and not cut corners to complete on time as many have alleged BP did before the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010.