Delayed: an artist's impression of the planned Prirazlomnoye harsh environment production platform
Blame game in platform delay
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has blamed the Sevmash shipyard in the north of the country for delays in commissioning the drilling and production platform for the Prirazlomnoye oilfield in the Barents Sea.
Speaking this week at a Russian Offshore conference in Moscow, head of Gazprom's offshore department Vladimir Vovk claimed Sevmash simply does not have "enough skilled workers" to complete the assignment.
Vovk said Gazprom paid for new equipment and the latest technologies to be delivered to the shipyard to help it complete the upheaval and modernisation of used topsides before coupling it to the new caisson foundation.
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