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The arctic region is the latest new frontier for the oil and gas industry. It is estimated that 22% of the worlds available oil and gas is within the Arctic Circle; the region could hold as much as 90 billion barrels of oil and more than 1,500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. More than 90% of Russias gas reserves lie within this area and Russian gas giant Gazprom has gone on record as saying that oshore eld developments to 2020 will drive orders for more than 10 production platforms and more than 50 ice-class tank- ers, plus other specialized ships. Some companies, however, have operated in this region for many years. Shell drilled Alaskas rst oshore well in the Cook Inlet in 1963. By 1969, an ExxonMobil crude oil tanker became the first such ship to pass through the Canadian Northwest Passage. is really marked the deployment of oshore assets to the polar seas of Alaska, Canada, Russia, and Norway. It is clear that this new oshore oil and gas frontier is set for major development in years to come. Part of that development will focus on protecting and operat- ing assets eciently and safely in the arctic seas. As has been the case for more than 100 years, coatings will be a steel assets rst barrier against the environment. Correct selection and application of coatings play a vital role in protecting maritime and offshore oil and gas assets, the lives on board, and the cargos they carry. For own- ers looking to achieve extended service lifetimes of more than 20 years, as is required for this environment, choos- ing a paint supplier with the right technical support team is an important part of the construction process and the mitigation of future maintenance. What will the coatings industry oer owners or oper- ators looking to the region for future development? e rst thing it will stress is that correct application guide- lines, as stated by the paint supplier, should be followed. Millions of dollars is spent on coatings research, which has resulted in clear application guidelines to achieve maximum paint performance. As a consequence, paint suppliers often oer technical service reps in fabrication yards to overcome application problems. Something as simple as an applicator adding too much thinner could have disastrous consequences at a later stage. One unique coatings solution available to own- ers and operators in arctic waters is anti-abrasion, ice-resistant paint. e rst point of contact between ice and hulls, namely the paint, is often forgotten; yet even the best standard anticorrosive coatings can- not perform after major exposure to abrasion and ice impact. Here, specialist paints are required, those specically designed to resist these powerful forces on moving or stationary hull structures. Such paints are widely recognized by class societ- ies such as Lloydss Register and DNV, which explicitly acknowledge the benets of specialized, ice-resistant coat- ings on hulls. ese coatings are shown to aid passage of vessels through their low frictional resistance, while pro- tecting assets from corrosion by providing a physical barrier to the elements. Lloyds Register, for example, states that when a rec- ognized low-friction coating is applied in the way of the main ice belt and is maintained in good condition dur- ing service, scantling thickness can be reduced by 1 mm. To get the optimum level of protection from a special- ist, abrasion-resistant ice coating, it is advisable to coat First Contact Hull coatings are a vessels ?rst defense against the elements, especially in arctic waters BY TOBY STEIN Icebreakers such as Krasin rely on ice abrasion-resistant coatings for daily operation. January 2011 www.sname.org/sname/mt (mt notes )