Oil and gas transport, Russia - Europe 

ARCOP is a research and development project supported by the European Union. The overall objective of ARCOP is to form an operational platform for the development of oil and gas transportation from the Russian Arctic (the Pechora and Kara Sea) to Europe.

A total of 21 organisations from five EU Member States (Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy) and from Russia and Norway are participating. The project, led by Kvaerner Masa-Yards, Finland, will run for three years until November 2005, and its budget amounts to € 5.23 million, of which € 3.02 million is funded by the EU.

Previous project
Main findings from three previous projects on marine transportation in the Arctic will be utilized in ARCOP to find practical solutions to the major problems:

INSROP, a Russian-Japanese-Norwegian project aiming at increasing the interest for the use of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) between Europe and Japan.
ICE ROUTES, a EU RTD-project resulting in a tool for route optimization using automatic satellite image analyses, description of the ice conditions and estimation of the performance of ships in those conditions.
ARCDEV, a EU demonstration project aiming to show in practice the economical viability of marine transportation of hydrocarbons on the Western part of the NSR.
ARCOP key areas
The technical and scientific objectives of ARCOP are related to four key areas:

Development of ice information collection and forecasting methods into a ship based ice navigation and route selection tool, to achieve an economically sound basis for a marine transportation system.
A common understanding between EU and Russia on the terms and conditions under which the use of the NSR is possible.
Development of an integrated marine transportation system for the NSR with required infrastructure for loading, traffic management and training.
Development of environmental protection and management system for the Arctic to the level where the requirements for precautions and monitoring can be seen and the capability of modern technology can be fully understood.
The SINTEF role in ARCOP

SINTEF is one of seven institutions/companies involved in ”Work Package 4 - Environmental protection and management system for the Arctic”.  The SINTEF effort will be put into ARCOP activities associated with potential oil spills, in open waters as well as in ice:

Oil Weathering and Oil Spill Countermeasures for Arctic and Ice-Infested Waters.
Scenario-based Oil Spill Response Analysis/recommendations for Contingency Planning.
The general fate and weathering of oil spilled in open and ice-infested waters will be documented in a ”state-of-the-art” study. This study will also reveal potential needs to perform (at a later phase, but not within this project) a more specific oil weathering study according to standardized methodology on relevant types of oil in connection to the planned (and already started) transportation from the Pechora and Kara Sea region. Crude oils produced in the area as well as representative heavy bunker fuel oils (HFOs) used by the shipping industry will be included in the study.
The performance capability of various oil spill combating techniques (both existing and potential new concepts) will be identified and evaluated. This evaluation is essential both in connection to oil spill response analysis and in order to prepare an efficient and cost-effective oil spill response capability for the area. In ARCDEV (as well as in other projects) major shortcomings with respect to oil spill response methods and procedures, especially in ice-infested waters, have been identified. Development of methods and devices for oil spill response with respect to mechanical recovery techniques, oil spill dispersants, in-situ burning and bio-remediation will be addressed.

A scenario based response analysis will be carried out using modern model tool systems, like OSCAR 2000 from SINTEF. This will form the basis for setting up a framework and guidelines / requirements for preparing an oil spill plan for the area. This will also evaluate the potential for improvements and come up with recommendations / needs for further development and experimental research.

For more information about the ARCOP, we refer to the ARCOP homepage at http://www.arcop.fi.

Contact at SINTEF Materials and Chemistry: Ivar Singsaas