北冰洋石油争夺战一触即发

    俄国佬说，从国家安全的角度来说，考虑到恐怖分子将来袭击石油设施，或者中东战争扰乱国际石油供应的可能性，“北冰洋比波斯湾安全，不是吗？”

    “但在北冰洋也有问题，那就是冰山。如果一有冰山漂过来我们就停止开采，那可不是个办法，是吧？另一个问题是石油可能泄漏到冰盖里，环境恢复？几乎不可能，”他说。但看起来并不担心这个问题。

    正相反，他笑得很开心。他已经找到了答案！他的双眼亮了起来，粗壮的手指在键盘上乱按了几下，然后停了下来，拿起一只笔开始画草图。

    “我们需要为北冰洋开发专门的技术，不是吗？”

    我惊讶地意识到他画的是一艘潜于深海的核动力油轮，类似于巨型潜水艇。他说这种船能像草图演示的那样，在冰盖下航行，抵达海底油田所在地，接上运输管道，然后吸出石油或天然气。

    在他手提电脑上跑步的那些男人代表着心情愉快、体质上佳的员工，他们将运行上面提到的这些海底设施。

    “我们希望将所有勘探与生产工作都在冰下完成，海面环境并不友好。”

    我脱口而出：“你们已经开始在俄国打造这个了？”

    “我们三年内就可以开工。”

    “哦，那它现在只是一种理论吧？”

    “不！不仅是理论！二战（World War II）时德国人就造出了水下油轮，用来运输补给品。”

    “那些是U型潜艇，它们尺寸很小，不可能用那么小的U型潜艇运输可用的补给品。”

    韦里克霍夫笑了：“越大越容易造，而且现在政府已开始产生兴趣。”

    他说，俄罗斯已经运作过几艘核动力破冰船。俄国知道北冰洋石油的价值，他还解释说，亚北极地区的石油已经帮助俄罗斯重新崛起为世界强国。按计划，俄罗斯的新Prirazlomnoye北冰洋海上油田很快将会投产，伯朝拉海岸边还有35座油井将按计划动工。

    韦里克霍夫在酒店房间里说，运输可燃性极高的液化天然气的水下油轮要比传统油轮更为安全，因为即使发生爆炸，他们也不会着火，毕竟水下没有氧气，无从燃烧。水下油轮可以全年运行，无需担忧冰山问题。它们抵达水下开采口之后，接上管道就能开采天然气或石油，装满后可开走，满足世界需求。

    “非常安全。”

    From a national security standpoint, the Russian said, when it comes to the problem of terrorists of the future attacking oil infrastructure, or of fighting in the Mideast interrupting international oil supply, "Arctic is more safe than Persian Gulf, yes?

    "But in Arctic we have problems, icebergs. If we stop operations in times of icebergs it is not very good, yes? Another problem is oil spill in ice. Recovery? Practically zero," he said. But he did not look worried.

    On the contrary, he was smiling. He had an answer! His eyes lit up and his blunt fingers stumbled over the keyboard, stopped, lifted a pen, sketched.

    "We need special technology for Arctic, yes?"

    Astounded, I realized he was drawing an underwater nuclear powered tanker, a kind of huge submarine that, he said, would travel beneath the ice, arrive at a sea bottom wellhead, attach itself to piping—as in the sketch—and suck up oil or gas.

    The men running on his laptop represented the happy and physically fit staff that would manage the subsea facility.

    "Our intention is to put all the exploration and production under the ice. Surface is not friendly."

    I blurted, "You're building this in Russia?"

    "We could in three years."

    "Ah, it's just a theory?"

    "No! Not theory! The Germans had underwater tankers in World War II. Deliver supplies."

    "But those were U-boats. U-boats are small. You can't transport usable supplies of oil in little U-boats."

    Velikhov smiled. "Bigger is easier. And now government is starting interest."

    Russia, he said, already operated several nuclear-powered icebreakers. Russia knew the value of Arctic oil, he explained. Russian subarctic oil had fueled that country's resurgence as a world power. Russia's new Prirazlomnoye Arctic offshore oil field was scheduled to come on-line soon, with 35 more wells planned offshore in the Pechora Sea.

    Underwater tankers carrying highly flammable liquefied natural gas, Evgeny argued in the hotel room, would be safer than traditional tankers because they couldn't catch fire if there was an explosion. After all, there was no oxygen under the sea to ignite. The subtankers could operate year round without worry about icebergs. They would arrive at an underwater wellhead, couple into the pipes, pump aboard gas or oil, and be on their way to supply the world.

    "Ve-ry safe."