Taming the ice

Huge platforms in the Arctic waters off Russia's east coast are defying the elements to produce vast amounts of valuable oil and gas. The exploration and production offshore of Sakhalin is managed by Sakhalin Energy, a consortium of Gazprom, Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi. The company was set up 15 years ago to manage the field. The first resources came from Sakhalin I, which started producing in 1999. The oil and gas was stored at the drilling platform and collected by tankers. However, because of the frozen conditions it was only able to operate for six months each year, and therefore the decision was made to construct an 800km pipeline to the nearest year-round accessible port at Aniva Ray, on the south side of the island.