Development of hydrocarbon resources in the Arctic is one of the priority tasks for the economy of the Russian Federation; however, such projects are associated with significant risks for the environment of nearby regions. Large-scale development of hydrocarbon resources in the Arctic should be based on the principles of sustainable development, which imply a balance between socio-economic benefits and environmental risks. The purpose of this study is to analyze the gaps in scientific knowledge on the issues of assessing sustainability of Arctic oil and gas projects (OGPs) and systematize the key problematic elements of such assessments. The analysis was carried out in terms of four key elements that determine the feasibility of implementing Arctic OGPs in the context of sustainable development: economic efficiency, social effects, environmental safety and technological availability. The methodology for conducting bibliometric analysis, which included more than 15.227 sources from the Scopus database over the period of 2005-2020, was based on PRISMA recommendations for compiling systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Methodological problems of assessing sustainability of Arctic OGPs were mapped and divided into four key sectors: consideration of factors that determine sustainability; sustainability assessment; interpretation of assessment results; sustainability management. This map can serve as a basis for conducting a series of point studies, aimed at eliminating existing methodological shortcomings of the sustainable development concept with respect to Arctic OGPs.
Gas industry plays an important role in the global energy sector, and in the coming decades amountsof natural gas production will only increase. One of the fastest growing trends in gas industry is the production of liquefiednatural gas (LNG), which is associated with the necessity to organize flexible systems of gas supply to the regions,remote from gas extraction sites. Industrial structure of LNG production includes projects, belonging to several different groups depending to their scale, in particular, small-scale production (SSLNG), cumulative production capacityof which is approximately 10 % from the industry-wide one. Economic aspects of implementing such projects remainunderexplored, which does not allow to draw objective conclusions regarding the prospects of their implementationin particular regions.This paper contains a review of publications, devoted to SSLNG project studies, aimed at identifying specifics oftheir organization compared to projects of greater scale. The results demonstrate that the majority of internationalcompanies classify projects as SSLNG, if their annual production capacity is below 0.5 million tonnes per annum.Specific capital costs, as well as implementation timelines of such projects, are several times lower than those of projects with greater production capacity, which reduces their risks and minimizes barriers to market entry. Furthermore,SSLNG is the most decentralized subsector in gas industry, aiming to cover the market due to a growing numberof projects, not their specific production capacity. These specific features define significant prospects of SSLNGdevelopment in Russia, both in the context of energy supply to remote regions and diversification of export deliveries.
Modern trends in the global energy market linked to the Sustainable Development Goals often lead to the adoption of political decisions with little basis in fact. Stepping up the development of renewable energy sources is an economically questionable but necessary step in terms of its social and ecological effects. However, subsequent development of hydrogen infrastructure is, at the very least, a dangerous initiative. In connection with mentioned above, an attempt to examine hydrogen by conducting an integral assessment of its characteristics has been made in this article. As a result of the research conducted, the following conclusions concerning the potential of the widespread implementation of hydrogen in the power generation sector have been made: as a chemical element, it harms steel structures, which significantly impedes the selection of suitable materials; its physical and volume characteristics decrease the general efficiency of the energy system compared to similar hydrocarbon solutions; the hydrogen economy does not have the necessary foundation in terms of both physical infrastructure and market regulation mechanisms; the emergence of widely available hydrogen poses a danger for society due to its high combustibility. Following the results of the study, it was concluded that the existing pilot hydrogen projects are positive yet not scalable solutions for the power generation sector due to the lack of available technologies to construct large-scale and geographically distributed infrastructure and adequate international system of industry regulation. Thus, under current conditions, the risks of implementing such projects considerably exceed their potential ecological benefits.
One of the major challenges of the modern world is the problem of global warming, the solution of which requires the implementation of a set of strategic projects in the field of transition of the energy sector to the path of environmentally balanced development. One of the ways to implement this transition is the development of technologies for capturing and storage of technogenic carbon dioxide, which is recognized as the main one of greenhouse gases. At the same time, in the Russian context, the most expedient is the implementation of technological chains for capturing and storing CO 2 which are aimed at enhanced oil recovery, the effectiveness of which has been proven by world practice. Implementation of these projects requires consolidation of efforts of many parties, including government agencies, enterprises-issuers (power generating facilities and energy-intensive industry), oil-producing enterprises, non-state environmental organizations, media and public. World practice has many examples when uncoordinated actions of one of the stakeholders led to the closure of such a project, and therefore it is necessary to develop a mechanism of interaction between them, taking into account the specifics of Russian conditions. One of the least studied and controversial aspects of this interaction is to involve the public in the implementation of national carbon intensity programs and the local population in the implementation of a specific project. Research in this field has been conducted in the world over the past 14 years, which allowed the current research base to be used to develop fundamental principles for the development and promotion of CO 2 capture and storage technologies in Russia. Key factors affecting the perception of such projects by public were also analyzed and systematized. The research identified the main arguments for and against the development of CO 2 capture and storage technologies. The analysis made it possible to formulate key principles that should be considered when developing a strategy for the development of these technologies in Russia.
At the present stage of development of control systems of mining and processing enterprises to compete in the global market requires an open organization, requires flexibility and adaptability. Given that each miner is large and branched structure, operational management of its units is a key factor in its success. But there is a problem to connect strategic business objectives with the activities of its subsidiaries. To solve the problem, we propose the use of a balanced scorecard tool.
In paper the problem of distribution of expenses at the companies with complex processing of mineral raw materials is considered. The method of distribution of expenses on an example of the mining company and its defects is defined. In the conditions of instability in the market of mineral raw materials the minimum limit of the price for each type of production is established, the analysis of offered system of distribution of expenses is carried out and expediency of its application at this company is defined.
