Sea ice-resistant stationary platform "Prirazlomnaya"

The Prirazlomnaya Platform is the only offshore platform in Russia that produces oil in the Arctic. It was designed and built by order of the company “Gazprom Neft”. The platform is installed in the Barents Sea, 60 km from the coast. Seven months of the year, “Prirazlomnaya” is surrounded by polar ice, but it is not afraid of harsh conditions. Wells are drilled here all year round, the Arctic oil is extracted, prepared and shipped to the special tankers.

The platform looks like an island, an impregnable fortress and a space station at the same time. Its height above the sea level (122 meters) is comparable to the height of a 40-storey residential building. The width and length of the platform is 126 meters, which makes its area equal to almost two football fields!

The lower part of the platform rests directly on the bottom of the sea and is called the "caisson". It also has an oil storage. The weight of the platform (500 thousand tons) exceeds the weight of 3 thousand blue whales, the heaviest animals on the planet. Due to its size, the platform is not afraid of either huge ice floes or 10-meter waves.