Of course, all HSR officials carry out their duties on a voluntary basis. The monetary resources received from membership fees are spent only on the preparation and dispatch of information letters, and on postage.
During the session, we also heard from HSR member first rank captain Dr Oleg Tchurkin (retd). He informed us that, currently, the Russian company Peter Gaz Ltd is performing complex prospecting works in the Black Sea with the purpose of designing the gas pipeline Djubga-Lazarevskoe-Sochi. This pipeline will allow gas to be brought to a number of settlements in the Sochi area, where the 2014 Winter Olympics are to take place.
To realise this project, some research vessels and the best experts in the field of geophysics, geology, hydrometeorology, hydrography and ecology are involved. On land, data are being collected on the geological structure of the underlying surface from deep drilling and seismo-acoustic research. At, single-beam and multi-beam echosoundings, acoustic profiling, magnetometric measurements and ROV inspections are being carried out.
When deciding the definite position of the pipeline, it will be taken into account that two sunken vessels (with a length greater than 80m) are located in the immediate proximity of the planned position. All necessary procedures and inspections of the sunken vessels will be carried out to ensure the completely safe exploitation of the pipeline in the future.
There is confidence that this project will be a success due to the highly qualified experts from Peter Gaz Ltd, who have participated in well-known projects, such as the Blue Stream (Russia–Turkey gas pipeline) at the bottom of the Black Sea, the Nord Stream, at the bottom of the Baltic, etc.
Members of the HSR Council thanked Dr Oleg Tchurkin for his interesting talk and wished him success with his projects.