Our Arctic Neighbors: Russian shipyard lagging on drill rig

The Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, a northwestern Russian city 22 miles from Arkhangelsk, needs to speed up work on the Prirazlomnaya drilling rig it is building for use in the Pechora Sea, the head of Gazprom subsidiary Sevmorneftegaz said in late June. Construction of the rig is seriously behind schedule, according to Alexander Mandel.

One of the main problems at the shipyard is a shortage of workers, Sevmash head Nikolai Kalistratov responded. This is despite the fact that salaries for those working on the rig are among the highest at Sevmash, averaging 30,000 rubles ($1,277) per month. Another problem is that the technical specifications of the rig are constantly changing, Kalistratov said.

Construction of the Prirazlomnaya rig began at Sevmash in 1998, and Sevmorneftegaz became the operator of the project in 2002.

—Sarah Hurst