The Role of Oil and Gas Companies in Ensuring the Ecological Safety of the Arctic

Hydrocarbon resources development on the Arctic shelf including Russian Arctic shelf is a strategic task for oil and gas companies as it also ensures the energy safety of the Russian Federation. Important zone of hydrocarbon extraction will be formed on the shelf of the Russian Arctic. Following here is exposed the legal base regulating the ecological safety of the Russian oil and gas complex. The authors underline the reality of the ecological safety problems. The growth of the extraction in the new fields and on the shelf creates new challenges. During the last decade the oil extraction in the offshore regions grew 8,6 times. The annual extraction on the Russian shelf made 1,7 million tons of oil (45% of total extraction) in 2002 and 14,6 million tons - in 2012 (Energy land, 2013). The collaboration of the Russian oil and gas companies with circumpolar partners in the sphere of modernization and technical improvement takes a special significance. The main goal of this work is to prevent accidents. The oil and gas companies play a key role by ensuring the ecological safety on sites by projecting infrastructure development thanks to the use of hi-technologies.