Gazprom Neft’s Arctic assets were responsible for a significant contribution to the company’s total production growth in 2019, with about 30% of all oil production occurring within the Arctic Circle. Liquid hydrocarbon production was up 8% at the Novoportovskoye field, reaching 7.7 million tonnes — the result of new digital and industrial technologies, together with the commissioning of new wells. 2020 is expected to see production volumes reach eight million tonnes of oil per year at the Novy Port project — the driver behind this growth being the development of the northern part of the field, the potential of which has already been confirmed through pilot works.
A further area for development at the Novoportovskoye field concerns the development of major gas infrastructure. Expanding current gas treatment facilities to establish a full-scale 15-bcm per-year gas processing plant will allow associated petroleum gas (APG) utilisation to be maintained at 95%. Gas utilisation at the field increased by more than 31% in 2019, reaching 8.59 bcm.
Oil production at the Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye field, being developed by Gazprom Neft in conjunction with Rosneft, was up more than 22%, reaching 5.6 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe) — this planned improvement in performance being the result of cutting-edge engineering, geological and technological solutions used in developing hard-to-recover viscous oil reserves. Full-scale development of Achimovsky deposits (reserves at which are estimated at more than 111 million tonnes in total, including 35,000 million tonnes of oil) commenced in 2019 — deep drilling at these formations demonstrating flow rates five to eight times higher than the average at this asset.
One of the most promising tasks in developing this asset in 2020 will be bringing low-capacity strata and Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye-field edge-zone reserves under development. In addition to this, a 1.5-billion bcm-pa compressor station, a 47-km gas pipeline, and an underground APG storage facility at the Zapadno-Messoyakhskoye field are due to be commissioned in 2020 as part of developing gas infrastructure on this project.
Production volumes at the Prirazlomnoye field remained stable throughout 2019, at 3.14 tonnes of oil. More than 12 million tonnes of ARCO (Arctic) oil have now been produced over the six years in which the Prirazlomnoye platform has been in continuous operation in the Barents Sea, and 19 wells drilled. Three further wells will be built and commissioned at Russia’s first ever project on the Russian Arctic Shelf in 2020.
Vadim Yakovlev Deputy CEO for Exploration and Production, Gazprom Neft:
“Gazprom Neft has made a strategic bet on developing fields in the Russian Arctic. This region’s colossal reserves are underpinning the future resource base of both the company, and the entire domestic oil and gas industry. Arctic oil already accounts for more than 30% of Gazprom Neft’s total portfolio. Hydrocarbon production under the harsh conditions of the Arctic is fraught with multiple technological and managerial difficulties, but the company’s active development of Arctic fields, and its development of major new production clusters, says much about how we are successfully coping with this challenge, guaranteeing continued improvements in the company’s operational and financial performance, and accumulating invaluable experience in implementing major — and, for the most part, unique — projects.”
Notes:
The Novoportovskoye field is one of the most important oil and gas fields currently under development on the Yamal Peninsula. It is located within the Arctic Circle, some distance from pipeline transportation infrastructure. Recoverable B1 and B2 reserves at the Novoportovskoye field stand at more than 250 million tonnes of oil and condensate, and more than 320 cubic metres of gas (including Paleozoic deposits). Novy Port-blend crude is categorised as “light”, with low sulphur content (of about 0.1 percent). Total cumulative production at the Novoportovskoye field had reached 25 million tonnes as at early 2020.
The Messoyakha group of fields includes the Vostochno (Eastern) and Zapadno (Western) Messoyakhskoye blocks located in the Gydan Peninsula, in the Tazovsky district of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Licences to both blocks are held by Messoyakhaneftegaz, jointly owned by Rosneft and Gazprom (operator on the project). Total cumulative production at the field currently stands at more than 14.7 million tonnes of oil.
The Prirazlomnoye oilfield is located in the south—east of the Barents Sea, 60 kilometres offshore. Recoverable reserves are in the order of 79 million tonnes. The licence to develop this field is held by Gazpromneft-Shelf LLC, a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft. Commercial production at this field started in December 2013. The first consignments of a new Russian “Arctic Oil (ARCO)” were launched on the global market in April 2014. Gazprom Neft produced its 12-millionth tonne of oil at the Prirazlomnoye field in December 2019.
About Gazprom Neft
Gazprom Neft is a vertically integrated oil company, primarily involved in oil and gas exploration and production, refining, and the production and sale of oil products. The Gazprom Neft’s corporate structure comprises more than 70 production, refining and sales subsidiaries throughout Russia, the CIS, and abroad.
The company’s proved and probable reserves (SPE-PRMS) are estimated at 2.78 billion tonnes of oil equivalent (btoe), making Gazprom Neft one of the top-20 largest oil and gas companies in the world, and one of Russia’s top three largest companies in terms of production and refining volumes. Total production in 2017 reached 89.75 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe), with refining volumes of 40.1 million tonnes.
Gazprom Neft products are exported to more than 50 countries worldwide, and sold throughout the Russian Federation and abroad. The company’s filling station network totals more than 1,850 outlets throughout Russia, the CIS and Europe.