Key Factors for Hard-to-Recover Hydrocarbon Resources Development on Land and the Arctic Shelf: Smart Technologies vs. Smart Specialists

Abstract

This article deals with one of the development paths which is currently not given almost any attention by oil and gas companies, despite the fact that it can contribute economically and environmentally when developing hard-to-recover resources on the Arctic shelf. The suggested development path is based on an understanding of the "smart" nature phenomenology and training of modern creative professionals in the base universities. This development path can be called "intensive". It allows to substantially reduce expenses while obtaining higher hydrocarbon influx rate and preserving the natural potential of reservoirs created by the nature itself. Today's specialists working on development of information technologies using big data, neural networks and machine learning call this development path "nature-like technologies". However, considering natural reservoirs which contain oil and gas, we can talk about a natural-only phenomenon.