USC says substitution of equipment imported for offshore oil & gas projects exists only on paper

Russian shipyards have not secured a single order for construction of floating drilling rigs so far despite the measures undertaken for decreasing technological dependence on foreign partners, a number of Russian companies continue rent foreign rigs for geological exploration on the shelf, press center of USC (United Shipbuilding Corporation) cites Yevgeny Zagorodny, USC Vice-President for Civil Shipbuilding, as saying at the 3rd National Oil & Gas Forum and NEFTEGAZ 2016 Exhibition held on April 19-20, 2016 in Moscow.

According to Yevgeny Zagorodny, the crew of rented rigs consists of foreigners while Russian specialists are deprived of obtaining valuable experience of offshore operations.

“As things stand now with the global slump of offshore works we continue providing jobs to foreign drilling teams,” said Yevgeny Zagorodny.

USC Vice-President also drew the Forum participants’ attention to the all too considerable age of the rented rigs. The technologies applied for their construction are outdated and that aggravates environmental risks on the shelf.

“So, technological inferiority of the domestic industry is aggravating while import substitution in the field of offshore oil & gas equipment exists only on paper,” emphasized Yevgeny Zagorodny.

According to him, leading shipyards of USC (like Vyborg Shipyard and Zvezdochka Shipyard) are thus losing their competence in construction of different drilling facilities.