Marine Collegium to centre on Arctic domestication & shipments there

. NARYAN-MAR, July 6 (Itar-Tass) - The meeting of the Russian Marine
Collegium, chaired by vice-premier Sergei Ivanov, will discuss on
Wednesday domestication of the Arctic and boosting shipments along the
Northern Sea Route.
The collegium told Itar-Tass that domestication of the Arctic would
be the first question under discussion. The agency will discuss the
Strategy for the development of the Russian Arctic Zone and areas for
cooperation with Russian partners in operation in that region.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said earlier that Russia intends firmly
to defend its geopolitical interests in the Arctic. "Russia intends to
expand its presence in the Arctic," he said. The premier noted that Moscow
is in constant contact with partners in developing the Arctic region. "But
we shall defend firmly and consistently our own geopolitical interests,"
he emphasised.
According to the premier, modern border infrastructure, weather
stations and a monitoring system over the state of weather and biological
resources will be developed in the region.
The second question on the agenda will be an increase in shipments
along the Northern Sea Route. In the opinion of collegium participants,
modern climatic conditions permit to use more actively this route,
including to ship oil products or LNG. At the same time, impressive
investments in port infrastructure are necessary to achieve success of
this project.
For instance it is necessary to build in Russia floating factories to
produce LNG and oil platforms. The use of floating factories is justified
at some shelf deposits, whose development is too expensive or impossible
at all by other methods.
Construction of such a factory is approved so far in the world only by
the Royal Dutch Shell Company. The floating factory for the company will
be built at shipyards in South Korea. Some companies of the energy sector
in Russia also display interest in such factories, while the Russian Joint
Shipbuilding Corporation examines a possibility of their construction at
one of its shipyards.