Page 12 - FSUOGM Week 01 2020

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM
Gazprom Neft wins new Achimov asset
RUSSIA
Gazprom is targeting deep and difficult to recover oil.
RUSSIAN oil producer Gazprom Neft has won a 25-year licence to develop the North-Yamburg- sky block in the Arctic Circle, it said on Decem- ber 30.
The area in Western Siberia’s Yamalo-Nenets region is 2,100 square km in size and comprises 102.8mn tonnes (754mn barrels) of oil, 655.8bn cubic metres of gas and 46.3mn tonnes (417mn barrels) of condensate in possible (D1+D2) resources, according to the state company. But it does not contain any confirmed fields.
The block is in close proximity to the Yam- burgskoye oil and gas field, operated by Gazprom Neft’s parent company Gazprom. Gazprom Neft recently secured a risk-operator contract from Gazprom to develop Yamburgskoye untapped Achimov oil formations.
Gazprom Neft’s plan is to conduct three years of 3D seismic surveying at North-Yamburgskoye covering an area of 1,400 square km. It will then drill one appraisal and three exploration wells. Based on results, it may then draw up a develop- ment programme.
“The Yamal-Nenets region is a territory of strategic interest for Gazprom Neft. If
exploration is successful, the licensed area will become an important part of a new production cluster in the region,” Gazprom Neft’s upstream deputy director Vadim Yakovlev said, com- menting on the award. “The main prospects for oil and gas in this area are associated with the Achimov layer.”
The Achimov formation, located at depths of between 2,500 and 3,500 metres, is one of Western Siberia’s most challenging horizons, characterised by thin sandstone reservoirs that vary greatly in thickness and quality and can be subject to high temperatures and pressure. But Gazprom Neft and producers are now focusing on its development to keep output stable as shal- lower reservoirs become depleted.
According to Gazprom Neft, the entire Achi- mov formation could yield as much as 34.4bn tonnes of oil equivalent. The company’s own target is to produce at least 14mn toe from the layer in 2020, up from a forecast of more than 12mn toe in 2019, Yury Masalkin, its director for exploration and resources, told Gazprom’s inhouse magazine in late December. Output could double by 2025, he said. ™
Novatek expands on Gydan, launches new field
RUSSIA
Novatek is scouring the Gydan peninsula for new resources to underpin new export projects.
RUSSIA’S Novatek secured exploration rights in December to a new tract of land in the country’s Arctic region, while also launching a new gas project further south.
The company reported on December 27 it had won a 27-year exploration and production licence for the Bukharinsky block, which covers 2,447 square km of the Gydan Peninsula and Taz and Ob bays. The area holds a potential 1.19tn cubic metres of gas and 74mn tonnes of liquids, it said.
Bukharinsky borders the Trekhbugorny licence area, which Novatek obtained in late 2014, as well as the Severo-Khanaveyskoye gas field, to which it won rights in a state contest last August.
The Gydan Peninsula has become Novatek’s main focus for development. It is here where the company is constructing its next LNG export terminal, the 19.8mn tonne per year (tpy) Arctic LNG-2, expected on stream in 2023.
Novatek is now scouring the peninsula for new gas resources to underpin additional export projects, with the goal of hiking its LNG produc- tion capacity to 70mn tpy by 2030. The company currently produces around 17mn tpy of LNG at itsthree-trainYamalLNGterminalontheYamal
Peninsula, west of Gydan.
To ensure lower-cost year-round delivery of
its LNG, Novatek has also been transhipping the gas from its specialised ice-class carriers to conventional tankers at European tankers. It reported on December 27 that it had started begun using a new 180,000-cubic metre storage tank at the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium for this purpose. The unit was built under a contract between Novatek and Belgian gas firm Fluxys.
Novatek also announced on December 19 the start of production at the North-Russkoye gas field, located in the Tazovsky district of the Yamalo-Nenets region. The field is anticipated to flow 5.7bn cubic metres of gas and 700,000 tpy of condensate at full capacity.
Unlike its projects on Gydan and Yamal, North-Russkoye will serve the domestic market only, where Novatek mostly caters to power gen- eration firms and industrial consumers.
North-Russkoye is one of four fields that comprise Novatek’s North-Russky develop- ment, and was the first to enter production. The others – Dorogovskoye, East-Tazovskoye and Kharbeyskoye – are slated to start up in 2020 and 2021, lifting output from the cluster to 13 bcmperyear.™
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