Including permafrost issues in national project would enable systemic approach - Russian Energy Ministry expert

VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 3 (Interfax) - Including issues related to permafrost in a national project would make it possible to approach these problems systemically, the head of the Russian Energy Ministry's Competency Center for the Technological Development of the Fuel and Energy Sector, Oleg Zhdaneyev said at the Permafrost session at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

"So far I have not seen issues related to permafrost included in a national project, but this is one point that would enable us, within the context of the creation of a separate federal project, to systemically approach, among other things, the system for training workers, monitoring, adaptation and stabilization," Zhdaneyev said.

He said the estimate of 7 trillion to 10 trillion rubles for potential damage from permafrost thawing in the period to 2050 made for municipalities, when applied to fuel and energy infrastructure, increases such risks significantly.

"An understanding emerges of why this problem is now a priority for fuel and energy companies," he said.

"It's important to note that fuel and energy companies have a developed network of geotechnical monitoring. Some companies have thousands of observation wells. The problem lies elsewhere - there is no unified concept, unified methodological base for how to conduct monitoring. The thousands of wells that companies have do not interact with one another," Zhdaneyev said, adding that there is a good example of a pilot project in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, where colleagues agreed to conduct such an exchange of data within one region.

"Coordination on the part of federal government agencies that would make it possible to seamlessly integrate a large pool of data, which already exist, is desperately needed. And the faster scientists and producers are able to get access to such data, the faster this will help solve stabilization problems," Zhdaneyev said.

For example, in some regions the period of time in the year that winter roads can be used is decreasing from 200 days to 150 days. "This is a key factor for the fuel and energy sector. If we don't ship in everything that is needed, it will be impossible to work in remote areas," Zhdaneyev said.