The main issue of the article is the assessment of an economic effect from the use of the Information System (IS), developed by Rosneft Oil Company for Arctic offshore projects. Most of the Rosneft’ Arctic offshore license
blocks are the areas with a high level iceberg hazard. It requires the permanent monitoring of the ice conditions around the “working point” (drilling, undersea pipe laying, subsea production complex installation etc.) both with the establishing of constant readiness for possible threats response. Exact estimation of ice threats together with well-timed and well-judged actions eliminating them, allow to avoid unjustified brakes of work, to reduce drilling rig and support vessels idle time and as the result to reduce or even to avoid the financial losses caused by the abovementioned reasons. The Rosneft experience in Arctic offshore drilling enlightened the desperate need in exact ice threat detection and correct estimation of the threat level refer to current working drilling operations. IS was created to meet these requirements. This information system is intended for monitoring ice and hydrometeorological conditions, for there changes forecasts developing, timely detection of all potentially dangerous ice formations (icebergs and bergy bits) and arranging of effective physical impact on these objects (usually towing) for changing of their drifts trajectories. The functions implemented in the IS allow to integrate data obtained from various sources (satellite images, aeronautical reconnaissance data, weather station data, hydrometeorological forecasts, etc.), and to perform an estimation of ice threats, as well as calculate the recommended trajectory and towing mode of ice formations. IS use in Rosneft offshore projects allow to increase the safety of exploration work in areas with high iceberg hazard, as well as to reduce significantly rigs and vessels possible downtime due to ice threats.
