Severneftegazprom, a joint venture of Wintershall Dea, Gazprom, and OMV, is successfully advancing the development of the hard-to-recover Turonian deposits of the Yuzhno-Russkoye oil, gas and condensate field in Western Siberia. In April 2021, the company reached an important milestone: five billion cubic metres of Turonian gas produced since the first production wells were commissioned in 2011.

Severneftegazprom is the first company in Russia to develop the Turonian layers. Due to the low permeability of these deposits, their development requires innovative solutions and state-of the-art technological methods tailored specifically to the task. In 2019, the first Turonian well clusters came on stream in the scope of the full field development phase. “Developing complex geological formations and jointly looking for innovative solutions is the distinctive attribute of Wintershall Dea’s projects in Russia and a crucial trait of our long-standing and successful partnership with Gazprom. The expansion of the Turonian gas production by Severneftegazprom at the Yuzhno-Russkoye field is a prime example of that,” says Thilo Wieland, Member of the Board of Wintershall Dea responsible for Russia.

Severneftegazprom has put significant effort into fundamental research and innovative engineering work to develop its own method for Turonian drilling. In February 2021, the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) officially recognised the value of the technique and issued a patent certificate to the company. „The new patent is a novel combination of different methods and technologies — a solution tailored to the unique challenge that the Severneftegazprom team has taken upon itself to tackle. It has already been deployed in production and has proved its efficacy. Constantly opening up new vistas and finding unconventional solutions — this is how Severneftegazprom has earned its reputation as one of the pioneers of the Russian gas industry,” says Torsten Murin, Managing Director of Wintershall Dea Russia.

The Yuzhno-Russkoye field is one of the largest assets in Wintershall Dea‘s portfolio in terms of production. By providing the resource base for the Nord Stream pipeline, the project makes a significant contribution to European energy security.

At the moment, Severneftegazprom is producing hydrocarbons from the Cenomanian and Turonian strata, whereby the main part of production currently relies on the 138 wells of the Cenomanian layer. So far, over 320 billion cubic metres of natural gas have been produced since the project was commissioned in 2007.

The innovative spirit of Severneftegazprom is not limited to the development of complex geological formations: the project partners are currently implementing artificial intelligence solutions in the Digital Twin project, which encompasses a dynamic digital copy of the reservoirs and surface facilities designed to enhance the efficiency of gas production from the Cenomanian and Turonian deposits. For Wintershall Dea, this is the third Digital Twin project in its portfolio, following Mittelplate and Brage, two offshore oil production platforms in the German and Norwegian sections of the North Sea, respectively.

About Wintershall Dea

Wintershall Dea is Europe’s leading independent natural gas and oil company with more than 120 years of experience as an operator and project partner along the entire E&P value chain. The company with German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg explores for and produces gas and oil in 13 countries worldwide in an efficient and responsible manner. With activities in Europe, Russia, Latin America and the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), Wintershall Dea has a global upstream portfolio and, with its participation in natural gas transport, is also active in the midstream business.

Wintershall Dea was formed from the merger of Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, in 2019. Today, the company employs around 2,500 people worldwide from over 60 nations.

About Gazprom

Gazprom is a global energy company focused on 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 is a reliable supplier of gas to Russian and foreign consumers. The Company owns the world’s largest gas transmission system, the total length of which within the boundaries of Russia reaches 175.2 thousand kilometers. Gazprom sells more than half of its gas to Russian consumers and exports gas to over 30 countries within and beyond the former Soviet Union.

About OMV Aktiengesellschaft

OMV produces and markets oil and gas, as well as chemical solutions in a responsible way and develops innovative solutions for a circular economy. With Group sales revenues of EUR 17 bn and a workforce of around 25,000 employees in 2020 (incl. Borealis), OMV is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies. In Upstream, OMV has a strong base in Central and Eastern Europe as well as a balanced international portfolio, with Middle East & Africa, the North Sea, Russia and Asia-Pacific as further core regions. Daily average production was 463,000 boe/d in 2020.
In Downstream, OMV operates three refineries in Europe and owns a 15% share in ADNOC Refining and ADNOC Global Trading, with a total annual processing capacity of 24.9 mn tons. Furthermore, OMV operates about 2,100 filling stations in ten European countries and runs gas storage facilities in Austria and Germany. In 2020, total natural gas sales volumes amounted to around 164 TWh.
In the chemicals sector, OMV, through its subsidiary Borealis, is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced and circular polyolefin solutions and a European market leader in base chemicals, fertilizers and the mechanical recycling of plastics. Borealis operates in over 120 countries. In 2020, Borealis generated EUR 6.8 billion in sales revenue. The company supplies services and products to customers around the globe through Borealis and two important joint ventures: Borouge (with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, or ADNOC, based in UAE); and Baystar™ (with Total, based in the US).