9 ms·

There Is Gas Under the Tundra

77 points by crunchiebones 8y ago

LandR 8y ago
There are some beautiful photos in this article! Love the guy taking a rest in the snow.
- mirimir 8y ago
  I guess so. But all I can see are extremely fuzzy images.[0] Anyone know why I might be seeing that? 0) https://keybase.pub/mirimir/flare.png https://keybase.pub/mirimir/flare.png
  - dec0dedab0de 8y ago
    Do you have javascript disabled or a slow connection? That looks like a low res image to make the site load quicker before the higher quality (larger file size) images load.
    - mirimir 8y ago
      That seems to be it. The HTML for the first image is <div class="article-photo-placeholder"><img data-progressive-url="https://prod-lensculture-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/original/ce95b807-b76a-4557-a8ac-bb53cabff94a.jpg" src="https://prod-lensculture-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/small/ce95b807-b76a-4557-a8ac-bb53cabff94a.jpg" class="photo progressive-image-loading"></div> But what gets displayed is https://prod-lensculture-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/small/ce95b807-b76a-4557-a8ac-bb53cabff94a.jpg https://prod-lensculture-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/small/ce95b... ["200px × 150px (scaled to 964px × 723px)"]. However, https://prod-lensculture-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/original/ce95b807-b76a-4557-a8ac-bb53cabff94a.jpg https://prod-lensculture-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/original/ce... loads just fine, and quickly. So their code is just deranged.
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    Yup, check your JS blocking and/or connection. I can confirm that the pictures in this article are both high-quality and simply beautiful (especially for those of us who love industrial porn).
    - mirimir 8y ago
      I do connect via nested VPNs. Bandwidth isn't bad, but latency is 100-200 msec. Maybe the site is just confused.
  - stuaxo 8y ago
    The same thing, in Firefox on Linux. Disabling uBlock origin didn't help, neither did disabling DuckDuckGo privacy extensions.
    - mirimir 8y ago
      Yes, for me as well, Firefox in Linux. I use NoScript and a bunch of other extensions, but disabling them didn't help. And sure, I could have spent more time debugging it, but damn. These are image files!
  - craftyguy 8y ago
    As others have suggested, I suspect it is because javascript is disabled (I see the same images and I disable javascript). Websites that "need" javascript to display a 26 year old image format and/or text(!!!) can go pound sand.
    - mirimir 8y ago
      I don't think that it was Javascript per se. I do use NoScript, but I did "temporarily allow all this page". Twice. However, I do block WebRTC, and I didn't disable that. > Websites that "need" javascript to display a 26 year old image format and/or text(!!!) can go pound sand. I registered at MeWe. And ever since, I've been getting "Updates at MeWe" with just this: "Please view this email in an HTML compatible email client." Why they can't include plaintext of the actual update is beyond me. I emailed them about it, but never heard back. So I've written them off as clueless.
      - craftyguy 8y ago
        > Why they can't include plaintext of the actual update is beyond me Completely understand. The number of mails I have to pipe through w3m or lynx in order to read them has been steadily climbing, and it's obsurd.
- Insanity 8y ago
  I know they are used to it, but I doubt I'd be able to get comfy enough to sleep there! The pictures are beautiful indeed :)
- onemoresoop 8y ago
  I think all the photos are beautiful in this article. There's a sense of peaceful harshness in that type of climate.
_Microft 8y ago
... and it better stays there. Building up more capacity to extract fossil fuels is not what we should be doing right now.
- FreeFull 8y ago
  It might still be better to extract it and burn it than to let it off-gas into the atmosphere on its own when the ice melts. Methane is a significantly stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
- doombolt 8y ago
  Oil and gas are the only reliable Russian exports. Economic pressure on Russia leads to increase of importance of oil and gas sector as other sectors plunge. This leads to more capacity, more offering. Which leads to price correction, even more offering as prices fall and have to be made for. Which in total leads to massive use of cheap gas. If there was someone committed to decrease in fossil fuel usage they will be making sure that Russia turns into Norway economically and politically. Meaning much fewer extraction of much more expensive fuels and more effort to not knock the ecology in the process.
  - ben_w 8y ago
    What happens when those exports stop being reliable, if and when renewables get cheap enough that electrolysing hydrogen from water is still cheaper than mining methane from Siberia despite the inefficiency of the former?
    - doombolt 8y ago
      Nobody knows for sure. Maybe a Syria-style (but ten times stronger) migration from Russia westwards? It is assumed that Syrian crisis started happening when its Oil exports dipped in red, as in existing Syrian economy would consume more Oil than they were capable to extract. Worsening climate did not help of course.
    - trhway 8y ago
      >What happens when those exports stop being reliable The last time it happened - mid 198x - the USSR collapsed. The oil price drop in 2014-2016 delivered a significant jolt to Russia causing economical crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_financial_crisis_(2014%E2%80%932017) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_financial_crisis_(2014.... Among other effects, that affected new weapons systems and armed forces modernization, etc. It also lead to very unpopular pension (social security) eligibility age increase. Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_financial_crisis_(2014%E2%80%932017)#Demographic_consequences https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_financial_crisis_(2014... : "According to New World Wealth study, over 2,000 millionaires emigrated from Russia."
zengid 8y ago
"ice breaker tankers" just sounds like tempting fate. Or maybe every tanker should be that sturdy /s.
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  It just means the hull design (and some other things) are different so it can function as its own icebreaker. If anything it's less risky than using normal tankers and constantly trying to clear a path for them.
24gttghh 8y ago
FYI: There are some NSFW images/links at the bottom of this article.
- Raphmedia 8y ago
  Clarification: there are two risqué thumbnails to other articles. One of them is a breastfeeding mother and the other is a nudist male seen roughly from the side.
  - 24gttghh 8y ago
    Exactly. This may or may not be NSFW depending where you are...better safe than sorry though!
    - Raphmedia 8y ago
      Agreed. Added the clarification so that people who are from countries where such things are allowed in public won't avoid the article for nothing.
johnohara 8y ago
It was known for a long time that hydrocarbons existed below the ice in this location. Russia simply lacked the expertise to explore it properly and so it there it sat. To my knowledge, only two companies worldwide possess the ability to explore in such harsh conditions: ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell. Russia, via Rosneft, opted to partner with ExxonMobil to explore the region and created the project photo-documented by the original post. It is known as Sakhalin-1 [1]. ExxonMobil is the principal operator and a 1/3 partner. This article by CNBC [2] does a decent job of discussing the project and some of the economic and political issues involved. Personally, I found the contents below the fold the most informative and insightful. Associated links: [1] https://www.sakhalin-1.com/ https://www.sakhalin-1.com/ [2] https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/13/exxon-mobil-could-tap-huge-arctic-assets-if-us-russian-relations-thaw.html https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/13/exxon-mobil-could-tap-huge-a...
surya026in 8y ago
Tundra will soon experience full freedom.

77 points by crunchiebones 8y ago

LandR 8y ago

There are some beautiful photos in this article! Love the guy taking a rest in the snow.

mirimir 8y ago
I guess so. But all I can see are extremely fuzzy images.[0] Anyone know why I might be seeing that? 0) https://keybase.pub/mirimir/flare.png https://keybase.pub/mirimir/flare.png
- dec0dedab0de 8y ago
  Do you have javascript disabled or a slow connection? That looks like a low res image to make the site load quicker before the higher quality (larger file size) images load.
  - mirimir 8y ago
    That seems to be it. The HTML for the first image is <div class="article-photo-placeholder"><img data-progressive-url="https://prod-lensculture-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/original/ce95b807-b76a-4557-a8ac-bb53cabff94a.jpg" src="https://prod-lensculture-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/small/ce95b807-b76a-4557-a8ac-bb53cabff94a.jpg" class="photo progressive-image-loading"></div> But what gets displayed is https://prod-lensculture-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/small/ce95b807-b76a-4557-a8ac-bb53cabff94a.jpg https://prod-lensculture-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/small/ce95b... ["200px × 150px (scaled to 964px × 723px)"]. However, https://prod-lensculture-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/original/ce95b807-b76a-4557-a8ac-bb53cabff94a.jpg https://prod-lensculture-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/original/ce... loads just fine, and quickly. So their code is just deranged.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  Yup, check your JS blocking and/or connection. I can confirm that the pictures in this article are both high-quality and simply beautiful (especially for those of us who love industrial porn).
  - mirimir 8y ago
    I do connect via nested VPNs. Bandwidth isn't bad, but latency is 100-200 msec. Maybe the site is just confused.
- stuaxo 8y ago
  The same thing, in Firefox on Linux. Disabling uBlock origin didn't help, neither did disabling DuckDuckGo privacy extensions.
  - mirimir 8y ago
    Yes, for me as well, Firefox in Linux. I use NoScript and a bunch of other extensions, but disabling them didn't help. And sure, I could have spent more time debugging it, but damn. These are image files!
- craftyguy 8y ago
  As others have suggested, I suspect it is because javascript is disabled (I see the same images and I disable javascript). Websites that "need" javascript to display a 26 year old image format and/or text(!!!) can go pound sand.
  - mirimir 8y ago
    I don't think that it was Javascript per se. I do use NoScript, but I did "temporarily allow all this page". Twice. However, I do block WebRTC, and I didn't disable that. > Websites that "need" javascript to display a 26 year old image format and/or text(!!!) can go pound sand. I registered at MeWe. And ever since, I've been getting "Updates at MeWe" with just this: "Please view this email in an HTML compatible email client." Why they can't include plaintext of the actual update is beyond me. I emailed them about it, but never heard back. So I've written them off as clueless.
    - craftyguy 8y ago
      > Why they can't include plaintext of the actual update is beyond me Completely understand. The number of mails I have to pipe through w3m or lynx in order to read them has been steadily climbing, and it's obsurd.
Insanity 8y ago
I know they are used to it, but I doubt I'd be able to get comfy enough to sleep there! The pictures are beautiful indeed :)
onemoresoop 8y ago
I think all the photos are beautiful in this article. There's a sense of peaceful harshness in that type of climate.

_Microft 8y ago

... and it better stays there. Building up more capacity to extract fossil fuels is not what we should be doing right now.

FreeFull 8y ago
It might still be better to extract it and burn it than to let it off-gas into the atmosphere on its own when the ice melts. Methane is a significantly stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
doombolt 8y ago
Oil and gas are the only reliable Russian exports. Economic pressure on Russia leads to increase of importance of oil and gas sector as other sectors plunge. This leads to more capacity, more offering. Which leads to price correction, even more offering as prices fall and have to be made for. Which in total leads to massive use of cheap gas. If there was someone committed to decrease in fossil fuel usage they will be making sure that Russia turns into Norway economically and politically. Meaning much fewer extraction of much more expensive fuels and more effort to not knock the ecology in the process.
- ben_w 8y ago
  What happens when those exports stop being reliable, if and when renewables get cheap enough that electrolysing hydrogen from water is still cheaper than mining methane from Siberia despite the inefficiency of the former?
  - doombolt 8y ago
    Nobody knows for sure. Maybe a Syria-style (but ten times stronger) migration from Russia westwards? It is assumed that Syrian crisis started happening when its Oil exports dipped in red, as in existing Syrian economy would consume more Oil than they were capable to extract. Worsening climate did not help of course.
  - trhway 8y ago
    >What happens when those exports stop being reliable The last time it happened - mid 198x - the USSR collapsed. The oil price drop in 2014-2016 delivered a significant jolt to Russia causing economical crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_financial_crisis_(2014%E2%80%932017) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_financial_crisis_(2014.... Among other effects, that affected new weapons systems and armed forces modernization, etc. It also lead to very unpopular pension (social security) eligibility age increase. Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_financial_crisis_(2014%E2%80%932017)#Demographic_consequences https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_financial_crisis_(2014... : "According to New World Wealth study, over 2,000 millionaires emigrated from Russia."

zengid 8y ago

"ice breaker tankers" just sounds like tempting fate. Or maybe every tanker should be that sturdy /s.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
It just means the hull design (and some other things) are different so it can function as its own icebreaker. If anything it's less risky than using normal tankers and constantly trying to clear a path for them.

24gttghh 8y ago

FYI: There are some NSFW images/links at the bottom of this article.

Raphmedia 8y ago
Clarification: there are two risqué thumbnails to other articles. One of them is a breastfeeding mother and the other is a nudist male seen roughly from the side.
- 24gttghh 8y ago
  Exactly. This may or may not be NSFW depending where you are...better safe than sorry though!
  - Raphmedia 8y ago
    Agreed. Added the clarification so that people who are from countries where such things are allowed in public won't avoid the article for nothing.

johnohara 8y ago

It was known for a long time that hydrocarbons existed below the ice in this location. Russia simply lacked the expertise to explore it properly and so it there it sat. To my knowledge, only two companies worldwide possess the ability to explore in such harsh conditions: ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell. Russia, via Rosneft, opted to partner with ExxonMobil to explore the region and created the project photo-documented by the original post. It is known as Sakhalin-1 [1]. ExxonMobil is the principal operator and a 1/3 partner. This article by CNBC [2] does a decent job of discussing the project and some of the economic and political issues involved. Personally, I found the contents below the fold the most informative and insightful. Associated links: [1] https://www.sakhalin-1.com/ https://www.sakhalin-1.com/ [2] https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/13/exxon-mobil-could-tap-huge-arctic-assets-if-us-russian-relations-thaw.html https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/13/exxon-mobil-could-tap-huge-a...

surya026in 8y ago

Tundra will soon experience full freedom.