Unmanned cargo helicopter tested at one of Gazprom Neft’s Arctic fields

Gydan Peninsula, October 2 - Neftegaz.RU. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drone) designed to deliver heavy and oversized cargo under Arctic conditions has, for the 1st time in Russia, been tested at the Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye oil & gas condensate field (Gydan Peninsula, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug), with an unmanned Tiber KAGU-150 successfully completing several flights and delivering materials and equipment to the field.

The objective of this test was to confirm the potential for unmanned technologies to deliver critical necessities to standalone northern fields. The project was undertaken by specialists from Gazpromneft-Snabzheniye, representatives from Russian drone and unmanned-systems producer Tiber, and employees at Messoyakhaneftegaz.

The UAV, controlled from the company’s logistics base in the Tazovsky settlement, successfully completed a 130-km route, delivering 150-kg load to the field. The drone has demonstrated high technical capabilities under Arctic conditions. A 2nd round of testing is planned at the Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye field in December 2020, with drone developers and oil-industry specialists all keen to test it under Arctic winter conditions.

Deploying unmanned technologies as part of its logistics processes at northern fields is a key objective for Gazprom Neft, with the company delivering hundreds of thousands of tonnes of engineering and drilling equipment, construction materials, and the essentials critical to maintaining oil production centres, to standalone oilfields by road and air every year. Using UAVs opens up major opportunities for oil workers in delivering essential resources to fields safely, and fast.

The testing of the Tiber helicopter represents the third series of such tests on unmanned logistics technologies conducted at Gazprom Neft production assets in 2020 - the company having previously tested automated land freight transport in Yamal and Yugra. Based on the outcomes of tests undertaken, Gazprom Neft plans to accelerate the process of deploying unmanned solutions throughout its logistics processes, and will continue to take an active role in developing regulation governing the use of unmanned transport at Russian oilfields.

“UAV - drone - technologies are developing extremely fast in Russia, and are by no means inferior to foreign alternatives in terms of their features and characteristics. This successful testing of a UAV to transport freight under Arctic conditions is a further step towards transforming our logistics processes. The level to which Gazpromneft-Snabzheniye is making effective use of new technologies in warehousing and transport logistics means we can talk about a completely new approach to developing and utilising logistics infrastructure, based on modern solutions with proven economic viability.”, said Dmitry Potapov, Director Gen. of Gazpromneft-Snabzheniye.