Problems and opportunities of regional geological exploration on the Russian Federation Arctic shelf

The authors discuss the current state of geological and geophysical exploration maturity of the Arctic shelf; the analyse the causes of the decline in the government's interest in studies and development of its hydrocarbon potential, which resulted in reduction of funding of regional geological exploration activities observed since 2015.Hope of Russian service companies in being in demand for execution of subsoil user orders have not been met. The subsoil users have considerably reduced and postponed the announced scope of seismic surveys to a long date. In a situation of uncertainty regarding future order volumes, service companies cannot work out a strategy for further development; determine the fate of their offshore divisions, specialised fleet, and equipment. In the absence of well-considered government decisions, the current situation bears a great risk of losing domestic competences in the field of geological exploration for hydrocarbons on the continental shelf, in particular, the risk of losing the maritime geophysical fleet. The development and adoption of state balanced targeted medium- and long-term programs for regional geological exploration on the Russian Federation Arctic shelf may be the way out of this situation, which is based on the strategic growth priorities of economic development and primary targets determined by governmental bodies with the participation of stakeholders. The authors propose promising directions for future regional offshore operations