A further milestone has been achieved! Achimgaz, a joint venture from Wintershall and Gazprom, has recently passed the impressive production level of 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Natural gas and condensate have been produced from Block 1A of the Achimov Formation in the Novy Urengoy field since 2011. During the next few years it is planned to increase the production to an annual level of around 8 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

A special event is also about to take place with the drilling: following the success with the previous vertical drilling, the first two horizontal wells will now be drilled in Block 1A. These will not only increase the production but are also more environmentally friendly, since relatively less drilling is required.

The Achimgaz project is a perfect example of successful German-Russian cooperation in the energy sector. Sophisticated technologies are used south of the Arctic Circle that can withstand temperature fluctuations from -56 to +34 °С.

"The project combines the expertise and experience of the two partners in an ideal way. It also provides an excellent example of the successful collaboration between people from more than ten nations, who with investments totalling more than 2 billion euros have built up a profitable company and, in addition, enriched the region with their ideas and experience," says Thilo Wieland, Wintershall’s Executive Board Member responsible for Russia.

The experience from the horizontal drilling will also be important for developing blocks IV and V in the Achimov Formation. As part of the asset swap last year with Gazprom, Wintershall acquired 25 percent plus one shareholding in the reservoir. "Access to 274 billion cubic meters of gas and 74 million tons of gas condensate is strengthening Wintershall's engagement in Russia. Our experience from the Achimgaz project proves that the joint collaboration on the ground at the well is successful," says Wintershall Chairman, Mario Mehren, adding: "Even with conditions that are not always economically favourable and in politically tense times, ensuring a responsible and secure energy supply for Europe must have top priority. Our Achimgaz joint venture is making a decisive contribution to this."

About Wintershall

Wintershall Holding GmbH, based in Kassel, Germany, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BASF in Ludwigshafen. The company has been active in the extraction of natural resources for 120 years, and in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas for over 80 years. Wintershall focuses on selected core regions where the company has built up a high level of regional and technological expertise. These are Europe, Russia, North Africa, South America, and increasingly the Middle East region. The company wants to expand its business further with exploration and production, selected partnerships, innovation and technological competence. Wintershall employs about 2,000 staff worldwide from 50 nations and is now Germany’s largest, internationally active crude oil and natural gas producer.

About Gazprom

Gazprom is a global energy company. Its major business lines are geological exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and sales of gas, gas condensate and oil, sales of gas as a vehicle fuel as well as generation and marketing of heat and electric power.

Gazprom views its mission in reliable, efficient and balanced supply of natural gas, other energy resources and their derivatives to consumers.

Gazprom holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves. The Company’s share in the global and Russian gas reserves makes up 18 and 72 per cent respectively. Gazprom accounts for 14 and 74 per cent of the global and Russian gas output accordingly. At present, the Company actively implements large-scale projects aimed at exploiting gas resources of the Yamal Peninsula, Arctic Shelf, Eastern Siberia and the Far East, as well as hydrocarbons exploration and production projects abroad.

Gazprom is a reliable supplier of gas to Russian and foreign consumers. The Company owns the world’s largest gas transmission network – the Unified Gas Supply System of Russia with the total length of over 168 thousand kilometers. Gazprom sells more than half of overall produced gas to Russian consumers and exports gas to more than 30 countries within and beyond the former Soviet Union.