Ecological aspects in construction of West Siberian oil field surface facilities

The exploitation of arctic regions, where permanently frozen grounds are widespread, leads to problems concerning the climate and the geo-cryological environment. One of the most urgent tasks is to minimize effects on the environment, otherwise irreversible, catastrophic processes, the deterioration of permafrost into swamps, fouling subsoil waters and rivers, ground surface pollution with petroleum products, and destruction of fish and birds, may occur. The measures aimed at providing the environmental ecological equilibrium during the exploitation of the northern oil deposits of West Siberia are described in this paper. These measures are worked out during the design stage. Then appropriate engineering decisions and product procedures are chosen, where much prominence is given to reliability of the oil and gas field facilities. The paper includes information about developing measures for the preventive systematic maintenance of the oil pipelines, maintenance schedule, prediction of accidents and certain procedures for their rectification