Oil Patch Insider: Gazprom CEO: U.S. firms lack knowledge for Arctic projects

Alaskans need help from Russians with projects in the Arctic, the CEO of Russian energy giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller, has told Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, Gazprom said in a release Dec. 25. Miller was sharply critical of U.S. technology in an address he gave at a meeting of the presidential commission for modernization and technological development of Russia’s economy.

“We held a workshop in Alaska for our foreign counterparts,” Miller said. “I may say that they have neither the understanding of how to develop hydrocarbons under local conditions, nor the experience or knowledge. We have got something to offer to our American colleagues, if they want it, relevant to comprehensive hydrocarbon development in Alaska.”

Miller led a delegation of Gazprom officials to Alaska in October 2008. A seminar took place with the participation of ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva, the top management of Arctic Slope Regional Corp. — the Native corporation that owns a vast swathe of land on Alaska’s North Slope — and Alaska’s commissioner of Natural Resources and other representatives from the department. During the visit Miller also had lunch with former Alaska Gov. Wally Hickel.

—Sarah Hurst

A view from Alaska

“Mr. Miller was speaking before a Russian audience and he is obviously proud of his company’s accomplishments,” said Kevin Banks, director of the Division of Oil and Gas within Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

“I attended the workshop in Alaska that Mr. Miller refers to in his remarks in which he shared some of those accomplishments,” Banks said. “In his assessment of the Alaska experience in that workshop, I think he was unfamiliar with the advanced scope and extent of the cutting-edge Arctic technology employed by Alaska’s oil and gas developers on the North Slope.”

Deputy Commissioner of Natural Resources Marty Rutherford suggested Miller didn’t spend enough time in Alaska to become knowledgeable about Arctic development in the state.

“I had the privilege of meeting and visiting with Alexei Miller and other Gazprom board members when they visited Alaska in October of 2008. It was a very congenial and valuable discussion and I personally enjoyed it greatly, having spent time in the USSR in my youth,” Rutherford said.

“However I find Mr. Miller’s recent comments on our oil and gas producers’ ability to develop Arctic projects inexplicable. The oil and gas companies working in Alaska are among the finest in the world, employing some of the best, and latest, technology,” she said.

“Mr. Miller’s visit to Alaska was somewhat brief and perhaps he didn’t have the opportunity to become familiar with the technology employed in Alaska’s Arctic. I’m sure any of our companies would be pleased to acquaint him with their practices if he chooses to visit Alaska again.”

—Kristen Nelson