West Arctic regions play a key role in Russian hydrocarbon resources production and transportation activity. The spatial structure of hydrocarbon's deposits in offshore areas of the Arctic shelf of the Barents Sea and Pechora Sea which will be developing in near future assumes gradual development of new deposits and expansion of infrastructure system of resources delivery. The key role of the coastal complexes which will be the base for future oil and gas exploitation in Russian Arctic regions are pointed out. The authors provide the description and technical parameters of some projects which are planning to be implemented in these regions in the near future. The results of the study can be used for the realization of offshore resources management plans as a part of territorial planning of Russian North-West region and also for the future development of Russian and international joint-venture projects on resources exploitation and transportation in Arctic.
The expected volumes of oil extraction on the Russian shelf can equal up to 95 million tons and gas up to 320 billion m3 in 2020. Among the Russian West Arctic Offshore regions two most significant with commercial oil and gas reserves have been singled out for exploration (The opening, 2005). The first is the Pechora Sea oil-bearing province which includes: the Varandey, the Dolginskoe, the Medynskoe and large-scale Prirazlomnoe oil fields; the Severo-Gulyaevskoe and Peschanoozerskoe oil and gas condensate fields; and the Pomorskoe gas condensate field (fig.1). According to estimations of Nenets Autonomous Area (NAO) Administration the annual extraction of oil in NAO can reach 25 million tons in 2010 and 30 million tons in 2015. The second is the central Barents Sea gas-bearing region which encloses the Ludlovskoe, Severo-Kil'dinskoe and Murmanskoe gas fields, as well as the Ledovoe and the Shtockman gas condensate fields (Fig.1).
