Page 10 - FSUOGM Week 05 2020

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM
Gazprom eyes increased role in Bangladesh
RUSSIA
Bangladesh is suffering gas shortages.
RUSSIA’S Gazprom signed memoranda of understandings (MoUs) on January 28 with Bangladesh’s state oil company Petrobangla and its subsidiary Bapex on joint upstream activities.
e deal with Petrobangla covers strategic co-operation in the exploration, production and transportation of hydrocarbons, the Bangladeshi company said in a statement. Meanwhile, the document with Bapex, Petrobangla’s upstream arm, provides for joint seismic studies and other activity at two gas elds on Bangladesh’s Bhola Island.
Bangladesh is a major gas producer in its own right, extracting 27.5bn cubic metres in 2018, according to BP statistics. But the country began struggling with shortages several years ago as a result of soaring demand for gas among house- holds and in the power generation sector.
ese shortages have led to rolling blackouts – a key drag on economic growth.
Bangladesh’s solution has been to invest more in domestic gas production on the one hand, and
expand imports of LNG on the other. It commis- sioned its rst LNG terminal o Maheshkhali Island in late 2018, and began receiving 2.5mn tonnes per year of supplies under a deal with Qatar. Its LNG intake is slated to reach 10-15mn tpy within ve years, assuming new regasi ca- tion capacity is built.
Gazprom has been working in Bangla- desh since 2012, under drilling contracts with Petrobangla, Bapex and other state entities. rough the latest deals, the Russian company hopes to expand its footprint in a fast-growing market. It may also be hoping to develop gas that can be sold to consumers in neighbouring India. In addition, strengthening ties with Bangladeshi partners will also help Gazprom bid for new LNG supply contracts in the country.
Yamal LNG, an LNG terminal operated by Gazprom’s domestic rival Novatek, shipped its rst LNG cargo to Bangladesh in December. e cargo was supplied under the project’s long-term o ake agreement with France’s Total. ™
Gazprom Neft reports record Achimov oil flow
RUSSIA
Achimov is a core focus for Gazprom Neft.
RUSSIA’S Gazprom Ne has reported a record ow rate from an oil well targeting Western Sibe- ria’s Achimov formation.
e well at the Vyngayakhinskoye oil eld in the Yamalo-Nenets region yielded 300 tonnes per day (2,200 barrels per day) of oil during tests – three times the rate that had been expected, Gazprom Ne said in a statement on February 4. It was achieved using a hybrid, multi-stage hydraulic fracturing technique.
Gazprom Ne plans to use the same tech- nique to target Achimov resources at its other fields, including Vyngapurovskoye, Yety- Purovskoye and Karamovskoye, it said. Its aim is to recover 28mn tonnes (205mn barrels) of extra oil, including 51mn barrels before 2025.
According to Gazprom Neft, hybrid frac- turing involves using a mix of di erent process uids with varying qualities that is injected at a faster speed. Its use signi cantly increases the extent of a strata that can be stimulated.
e Achimov formation is found throughout much of the Western Siberian oil and gas area at depths of between 2,500 and 3,500 metres. It is considered one of Russia’s most challenging
horizons, characterised by thin sandstone reser- voirs that vary greatly in thickness and quality, and are sometimes subject to high temperatures and high pressure.
Gazprom Ne wants to expand production of Achimov resources to ensure growth, recently announcing a target to extra more than 14mn tonnes of oil equivalent from the layer in 2020, up from 12mn toe in 2019.
According to Gazprom Neft’s director for geological prospecting, Yuri Masalkin, around 1bn tonnes (7.33bn barrels) of oil lies in Achi- mov reservoirs in the Noyabrsky district where the Vyngayakhinskoye is located.
“ ese are huge reserves, the extraction of which by available methods is limited by the comply geological structure of the layers,” he explained. “We expect that new technologies, some of which are already being successfully tested at the company’s elds will expand access to oil from the Achimov stratum.”
Last month the company won a 25-year licence to develop a new block in the Yama- lo-Nenets, North-Yamburgsky, where it plans to drill into Achimov layers. ™
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Week 05 05•February•2020