Page 12 - FSUOGM Week 49 2019

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM
Gazprom Neft increases output in Iraqi Kurdistan
RUSSIA
Gazprom Neft has produced 23mn barrels of oil from the Sarquala oilfield to date.
RUSSIAN firm Gazprom Neft reported this week that its Middle East subsidiary had increased output from the Sarqala oilfield in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq (KRI).
The news comes as Kurdish authorities have come under intense scrutiny amid a significant corruption case against former Minister of Nat- ural Resources Ashti Hawrami.
Gazprom Neft Middle East said that total cumulative production from the asset in the south-eastern Garmian licence had reached 3mn tonnes (23mn barrels) of oil, with daily output running at an average 30,500 barrels per day (bpd).
First oil was reached in 2011, with commer- cial flows beginning in 2015, following the com- missioningoftheSarqala-1wellandaninitially slow ramp-up now modestly gathering pace.
A second well was brought on stream in 2018, raising output from 11,000 bpd to 25,000 bpd, and on April 4 the Russian firm announced that the third well had entered production, with potential flow of 12,000 bpd and taking output to around 35,000 bpd.
The April announcement made reference to
the “challenging geological conditions” at the field, specifically “anomalously high pressure and reservoir temperature”. Gazprom revealed last year that enhanced oil recovery (EOR) tech- niques were being deployed at the acreage for the first time in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Alluding to a significant programme of work at Sarqala, Gazprom Neft said in early December that “surface facilities and infrastructure have been significantly expanded in the course of developing this field. Final works on expanding the central processing facility (CPF) are expected tobecompletedbyend-2019”.
It added that the “pipeline processing system has been updated, and the production-process automatedcontrolsystemmodernised”.
The statement noted that 5,000 bpd forma- tion-water utilisation infrastructure would be built at Sarqala “in the near future”.
CEO of Gazprom Neft Middle East Sergei Petrov said: “Preparations are now underway on drilling a further well. Commissioning this will allow us to maintain hydrocarbon production volumes in the KRI.” ™
Gazprom Neft bags Arctic licence
RUSSIA
Gazprom Neft is pushing into the Arctic to replenish its reserves.
GAZPROM Neft has picked up an exploration and production licence for another field within Russia’s Arctic Circle, it reported on December 5.
The company has secured 30-year rights to a 340-square km block on the eastern coast of the Yamal Peninsula, after coming first in a state auction. It did not reveal the price it had paid for the licence, although according to Moscow-based Kommersant, the starting price for bids in the auction was set at RUB2bn ($31mn).
The block contains the Khambateyskoye field, holding an estimated 34bn cubic metres of recoverable gas and 2.6mn tonnes of condensate. It lies just north of Novoportovskoye, Gazprom Neft’s top oil project in the Arctic.
Gazprom Neft plans to conduct exploration work at the block until 2022, with the goal of launching oil production four years later.
Like other Russian producers, Gazprom Neft is pushing into the Arctic in the search for new resources that can replenish its declining
reserves further south. It snapped up 12 other blocks in the remote Taymyr Peninsula east of Yamal in August.
Another cornerstone of Gazprom Neft’s growth strategy is targeting difficult to recover oil at gas fields held by its parent company Gazprom. As reported in FSUOGM Week 48, it recently began production of oil at the West-Tarkosalinskoye gas field in Western Siberia.
And on December 4, Gazprom Neft announced the start of active development of an oil rim at the Chayandinskoye field in Eastern Siberia, which is now flowing gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline. The company’s first well at the site is producing more than 150 tonnes (1,100 barrels per day), it said in a state- ment. It is targeting a plateau liquids output of 60,000 bpd.
Gazprom Neft has been granted access to oil resources at a number of Gazprom pro- jects across Russia under licensing agreements between the two companies. ™
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Week 49 11•December•2019