Page 8 - FSUOGM Week 50 2021

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM

Gazprom Neft within grasp

of 2mn boepd goal

RUSSIA RUSSIAN oil major Gazprom Neft is within will expand the manufacture of Euro-5 stand-
grasp of reaching its long-held goal of producing ard light fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet
Gazprom Neft has been 2mn tonnes per year (2mn barrels per day) of oil kerosene, while increasing general efficiency.
investing more in its gas equivalent of oil and gas, after commissioning Construction is also underway at a Biosphere
operations. several key projects earlier this year. complex at the Omsk refinery that is expected
Gazprom Neft kicked off production at the to raise water-treatment efficiency to 100%, Gaz-
Tazovskoye field in Western Siberia in June – its prom said.
first field launch since the onset of the corona- Gazprom Neft has forged new partnerships
virus (COVID-19) pandemic. It is looking to with other Russian oil companies, in order to
invest over RUB150bn ($2.1bn) in the project combine resources and expertise. It recently
over the next 10 years. The field contains some teamed up with Gazprom and Lukoil to explore
419mn tonnes (3bn barrels) of oil and 225bn and develop an area surrounding Tazovskoye. It
cubic metres of gas, according to Gazprom Neft, also signed a deal with Novatek to exploit the off-
although it has not said how much it expects to shore Severo-Vrangelevsky block, and is work-
recover. ing with Tatneft on joint enhanced oil recovery
Gazprom Neft has also been extracting more (EOR) projects.
oil from oil rims found at some of its parent Gaz- Gazprom Neft has also made inroads into
prom’s largest gas fields, including the Chayan- the nascent carbon capture and storage (CCS)
dinskoye field that serves China with gas. Oil and hydrogen energy sectors. It is looking to use
rims are thin layers of oil that can form on top of these technologies to help Russian steelmakers
a larger gas reservoir, and have traditionally been decarbonise, ahead of the EU’s introduction of
overlooked in development plans. But Gazprom a carbon border tax. This tax will make Russian
Neft has entered into a series of agreements with steel less competitive unless it can be produced
Gazprom to exploit these layers. more cleanly.
In addition, the company has commis- Moving forward, Gazprom Neft said it would
sioned a new gas treatment plant at the expand investments by over 10% in 2022 to
Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye field within Rus- more than RUB500bn. The company managed
sia’s Arctic Circle. While oil is Gazprom Neft’s a 54% year-on–year growth in revenues in the
main focus, the company has taken steps to third quarter to $11.2bn, continuing a recovery
build up its gas business in recent years, as it is that began in late 2020. It generated $3.6bn in
bullish on the long-term demand outlook for EBITDA, up 81%, and $1.9bn in net profit, rep-
the fuel, wants to reduce its carbon footprint resenting a fourfold increase.
and views gas an avenue for growth at a time “The economic recovery following a chal-
when its oil production has been constrained lenging 2020 has allowed Gazprom Neft to sig-
as a result of OPEC+ quotas. nificantly improve all of its business indicators
Gazprom Neft also reported progress at its and exceed pre-pandemic levels,” Gazprom
refining business. It has completed modernis- Neft chairman Alexei Miller commented in
ing a heavy-ends conversion unit at its 240,000 a statement. “The company has continued to
bpd refinery in Moscow in order to boost die- implement its major projects while maintaining
sel production, and last year it also decommis- its focus on the sustainable development goals,
sioned five previous facilities, replacing them including more sustainable production and a
with a $1.4bn EURO+ complex. The complex lower environmental impact.” ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 50 15•December•2021