A.A. ZHADOBIN Insurance group Megaruss, Russia

One of the main conditions of successful development of riches of the Arctic shelf is the reliable safety of resources put in his development:

lives and health of people working in severe conditions, safety of unique techniques, preservation of the ecology, put in development of region of mullions-strong investments.

The oil-and-gas industry mastering the North - the most powerful branch of Russia possessing enormous resources. But risks with which it is necessary to collide in the work to oilmen and gas-workers are extremely great also. Not a secret, that the equipment used by them substantially is obsolete and does not answer both Russian, and to international safety requirements. Quite often explosions of gas, failure and accident take place at transportation, stops in manufacture, accidents with human victims. Therefore today sharply there is a question on attraction of the monetary resources necessary for introduction of high technologies - economic, effective, highly reliable.

One of the important stages of this process is authorized by the Government of the Russian Federation in August, 2002 the subroutine the "Shelf directed on creation of the hi-tech equipment for development of a continental Arctic shelf and on modernization of industrial base of ship-building firms involved in this work. Prepare for serious increase in an oil recovery in Arctic regions at support of the American investments the Russian oilmen and northern sea carriers. It is extremely important, that all these projects and contracts concluded in their frameworks from the very beginning provided the competent decision of questions of management of risks, a safety.

In world practice technologies and programs of insurance of dangerous manufactures (to which all objects of oil-and-gas branch concern practically), providing close interaction of the insurance companies with the financial, design, building, industrial transport and operational organizations at all stages of realization of projects are developed and certificated.

Many large projects of development oil-and-gas zones of the Arctic shelf, development of transport systems and modernization of fleet are connected to ship-building programs of "GAZPROM". Prominent feature of activity insurance group "Megaruss" in this plan is insurance of a significant share of sea objects of special purpose: research, passenger-towing and fire ships, chisel platforms, floating cranes, ice breakers.

At realization of sea projects the broad audience of objects is subject to insurance: a fixed capital of the enterprises participating in projects, cargo transportations of the equipment and materials, the professional liability of designers, builders, carriers, a civil liability of the organizations maintaining objects of raised danger.

In modem international insurance practice are developed and widely complex approaches to the analysis of a degree of risks, prevention of their approach and decrease in potential damage are applied. Highly skilled experts of insurance group "Megaruss" develop the complex program of an insurance covering - so-called "Insurance audit". The program includes system of the actions, allowing revealing all risks of the enterprise, to develop and support a complex of actions on their minimization and management of risks.

The most important problem which will be put by development of deposits in Arctic regions, this carrying out all-the-year-round and trouble-free work in complex climatic conditions. Russia possesses wide experience of activity in Arctic regions, however, mainly, it is experience of transport caravans and research expeditions. The county does not possess operating experience during all year of a stationary design in conditions of Arctic regions. The lowest temperatures, strong a wind, snowfalls, fogs, an icing and polar nights - all these factors complicate work of the oil-and-gas industry. The most difficult problem will resist to ice, the ice monoliths reaching up to 500 000 tons, the ice fields drifting in this area from the central Arctic regions.

Ships of an ice class can always deviate onto ice which capacity exceeds their admitted class. However, the chisel platform has no such opportunity. On natural process of self-cleaning of the Arctic waters hundreds years are required, therefore pollution of the Arctic environment by oil and waste products of industrial activity will have irreversible effect. For this reason, authority make extremely strict demands to that technologies of oil extracting, means of transportation and ships should not cause pollution in these regions.

Except for maintenance of technical safety, insurance can render also to the enterprises the essential help in business of attraction to performance of projects of qualified personnel, providing necessary social guarantees to workers, helping to provide to them worthy working conditions in a severe climate of Arctic regions. Insurance group "Megaruss" has huge experience in development and application of complex insurance programs for workers of the North which now successfully takes root in the environment of their partners on development of riches of the Arctic shelf.

ARCTIC SHELF OIL AND GAS CONFERENCE 2004