Russia Unveils Advanced Underwater Robot System for Arctic Oil Development

As Russia accelerates the development of its extensive petroleum resources in the Arctic, the state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) has unveiled a proposed design for an advanced underwater robot system designed to operate beneath the ice. This initiative is part of USC’s Project Iceberg, aimed at enabling year-round offshore oil and gas development in the Arctic.

The underwater robot system includes deep-sea geological drilling rigs capable of drilling wells and obtaining core samples at depths of up to 4 500 meters. A prototype of this rig has already been developed and tested. Additionally, the system features a group of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) that can conduct seismic exploration in hard-to-reach areas of the Arctic shelf, regardless of the season.

These new details were shared by two senior USC executives at a shipbuilding conference in St. Petersburg: Vasily Boytsov, Advisor to the General Director of USC, and Evgeny Toropov, General Designer of Marine Structures. The robotic submarines were originally designed in 2017 by the Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects (FAR), which estimated a 10-year timeline for the system’s completion. However, delays in financing may impact this schedule, and the update from USC suggests that the project is now in the implementation phase.

The Arctic region is crucial to the Russian energy sector, accounting for approximately 80 % of the country’s natural gas production and 20 % of its crude oil production, according to the International Energy Agency. With limited access to Western oil and gas expertise due to sanctions, Russia is exploring new avenues to advance its projects without external support.