Page 12 - FSUOGM Week 08 2020

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM
Gazprom Neft unveils new Achimov project
RUSSIA
Gazprom Neft is betting on Achimov for its growth.
RUSSIA’S Gazprom Neft has revealed a new project to target challenging Achimov layers at mature fields in Western Siberia.
In a statement on February 20, the company said it intended to explore Achimov reserves at 20 licence blocks covering 21,000 square km held by its local subsidiary Noyabrskneftegaz. Noyabrskneftegaz operates mostly mature fields in the Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Man- siysk regions, whose output peaked in the late 1980s.
The 20 blocks will be united under a single exploration project worth RUB3.7bn ($58mn) in investments. Work will mainly focus on the four most promising blocks: Novoromanovsky, Sugmutsky, Sutorminsky and Severo-Yangtin- sky. Between now and 2023, Gazprom plans to re-interpret seismic data, test existing wells and drill new ones, in order to assess the potential of the remaining 16 blocks.
The 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. As such, its oil and gas is clas- sified as hard to recover.
Achimov requires “fundamentally new approaches and finding advanced technology for [its] cost-effective development,” Gazprom Neft’s deputy general director Vadim Yakovlev said in a statement. Exploiting the resource will provide Noyabrskneftegaz’s mature assets with a “second wind,” he said, “and the experienced gained will be useful to the entire Russian oil and gas industry.”
Achimov plays a crucial role in Gazprom Neft’s growth plans. It has several projects tar- geting the layer already underway, including at the large Yamburgskoye oil and gas field. The company’s aim is to produce more than 14mn tonnes of oil equivalent from Achimov in 2020, up from 12mn toe in 2019.
“Achimov deposits have tremendous poten- tial,” Yakovlev said, noting that up to 60bn toe could be recovered from the layer in total.™
Omsk refinery starts producing IMO-compliant fuel
RUSSIA
The Omsk refinery
is undergoing the second phase of an extensive modernisation programme.
RUSSIA’S Gazprom Neft has launched produc- tion of low-sulphur fuels compliant with Inter- national Maritime Organisation (IMO) 2020 rules at its refinery in Omsk.
New IMO regulations that came into force at the start of this year have capped the per- mitted sulphur content of marine fuels at 0.5%, versus 3.5% previously. The 430,000 barrel per day (bpd) Omsk plant near Russia’s border with Kazakhstan began producing RME-180 M-grade marine fuel compliant with the new standard last month, Gazprom Neft said in a statement last week.
The first consignment of the fuel was bun- kered to Italy’s Ice Point tanker on February 17, according to Gazprom Neft. The fuel is designed for two-stroke and four-stroke engines and includes hydrotreated gas oil components, it said.
The Omsk refinery has already been produc- ing 0.1% sulphur-content fuel since 2017, for use within sulphur emissions control area (SECA) navigation zones. Gazprom Neft did not disclose output levels for its RME-180 M-grade fuel, but said its total supplies of IMO-compliant fuel to the domestic market could exceed 1.5mn tonnes
this year.
Gazprom Neft operates another, 210,000 bpd
refinery in Moscow. In addition to conventional fuels, the company plans to commission its first LNG bunkering vessel in the second quarter of 2021.
The Omsk refinery is undergoing the sec- ond phase of an extensive modernisation pro- gramme. As part of this project, Gazprom Neft also completed the installation of major tech- nology equipment earlier this month for a new primary crude refining complex at the plant. This equipment included new atmospheric and vacuum distillation columns with a combined weight of 1,200 tonnes, along with foundations and reinforced concrete structures. Installation of underground services and utilities, pipelines and automated control systems is ongoing.
The new complex will be capable of process- ing 8.4mn tonnes per year (169,000 bpd) of oil, costing more than RUB50bn ($764mn) to erect. It is slated to start up in 2021, at which point Gazprom Neft will begin decommissioning six existing but obsolete units at the plant, reducing its environmental footprint and boosting its effi- ciency. ™
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