Future outlook Rapid increase in world population has led to increased worldwide energy consumption from a wide variety

of sources including the conventional source of oil and gas to meet the ever growing demand for energy. With steady decline in oil and gas reservoir potentials, the Arctic has become a huge hydrocarbon kitchen for oil and gas exploration and production basically to proffer solution to the problem of energy and also maintain economic prosperity. Shtokman field undoubtedly is known for its huge natural gas reserves which are quoted to be sufficient enough to meet the rising demand of gas around the world. The development of Shtokman field has seen tremendous challenges from technicalities to safety and even cost. Based on this encountered challenges and how they were duly managed, this will be probably act as an eye opener towards future arctic development. Based on Shtokman development below are some future outlook/ recommendations for future oil and gas development. Improved iceberg detection devices and management: More technological innovation is required in the aspect of iceberg detection owing to the fact large magnitude of icebergs are present in the arctic region making floating structures much vulnerable to damage as a result of vessel iceberg collision. More technological improvement is needed in iceberg detection and possibly scanning the iceberg to reveal its mass. Early detection of icebergs with large mass will increase safety and also prevent large iceberg collision with the floating structure as early detection of iceberg with mass greater than the vessel resistance might see the vessel being disconnected and later reconnected. Field development using subsea processing units: Subsea processing has gained increased demand in todays oil and gas development. The implementation of subsea processing will totally eliminate the need for floating producing units or production units mounted on fixed platforms. The idea of subsea processing is a very viable option which completely eliminates the maintenance or capital cost of floating or fixed structures. Subsea processing is a less expensive option compared to the existing option in terms of offshore operation and also reduces the complexity of offshore field development. Although the technology behind subsea processing is still very much under development but more has to be done considering the technical merits it proffers. Subsea processing negates the boosting of back pressure needed to transport production to surface since production is routed to export lines. This fundamentally increases the service life of transport/export facilities due to the immediate separation of suspended solids necessary for internal and abrasion. Subsea processing provides possible solution for harsh environmental conditions especially for arctic regions where structures are vulnerable to iceberg collision. Hence subsea processing is

highly recommended for future field developments especially locations with extreme conditions. Material selection: Material selection for field development is an important aspect in field development planning/design especially materials for arctic field development with great performance in low temperature application such as those employed in arctic fields. Further work is required to address the tools for fracture mechanics analysis to obtain better reliability. Improved innovation and development of means to examine materials for flaws more accurately for critical applications is highly recommended for future developments. Spill containment: Oil and gas activities in recent time have endangered aquatic lives in deepwater causing real threat to the local eco system. Improved spill control and management is highly recommended for future developments especially in iceberg prone region like the arctic where spills can cause enormous effects to the surroundings and the eco system at large. Vessel disconnection in extreme condition is one area that can improve the level of safety and it requires more improvements. Emergency vessel disconnection system should be designed to disconnect within 30secs -1min, this will be a massive step towards vessel turret systems. Other areas for future outlook will be in the area of reduction in level of arctic warming since the arctic temperature helps in the regulation of world temperature. Low carbon emission is another area to foster greener environment.