Putin launches development of Kharasaveyskoye gas field on Yamal Peninsula
MOSCOW. March 20 (Interfax) - President Vladimir Putin, via video link, officially launched the full-scale development of Gazprom's Kharasaveyskoye gas field on the Yamal Peninsula.
Gazprom decided last summer to begin the full-scale development of Kharasaveyskoye in 2019. The field is located north of the company's Bovanenkovskoye field, primarily onshore and partially in the waters of the Kara Sea. It is a unique field in terms of size, with C1+C2 gas reserves of 2 trillion cubic meters.
The initial target of development will be Cenomanian-Aptian deposits. Production is scheduled to start in 2023 and is expected to total 32 bcm per year. There are plans to develop deeper Neocomian-Jurassic deposits in future.
About 20% of the field's reserves are offshore, and these will be tapped by wells with horizontal tailing-in that will be built from shore.
The project calls for the construction of a gas treatment plant, booster compressor station, production well pads, and transport and energy infrastructure. Vital infrastructure, including a rotation camp and power plant for the sites own needs, has already been built at the field.
Sergei Menshikov, general director of the Gazprom Dobycha Nadym production unit, said that Gazprom had built a winter road between the deposits and that "today the first consignment of construction and auxiliary equipment will travel along it."
"The convoy includes more than 30 units of machinery - bulldozers, dump trucks, stalk trucks, pipe layers, welding units and others - for priority work at Kharasaveyskoye," he said.
Menshikov said there were stringent requirements for traffic along the winger road. "We reckon that the drivers setting off for the Kharasaveyskoye field today have a combined 400 years or more of service in the Arctic," he said,
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said 5,500 construction workers and 2,000 units of machinery would be mobilized at the field. He said 236 wells would be drilled and that six new generation Russian-made Ekaterina drilling rigs and a Bentec heavy-duty rig would be used.
"Twenty percent of Kharasaveyskoye's reserves are offshore, and the offshore section will be developed by horizontal wells from the shore. Thus, Gazprom is also beginning to develop the Yamal shelf," he said.
"In order optimize costs the decision was reached to combine project solutions for Kharasaveyskoye with those used at the Bovanenskoye field. These are a comprehensive gas treatment unit with capacity of 32 bcm per year and a 150 MW booster compressor station. Only Russian-made equipment will be used at the field," Miller said.
"A pipeline 106 km long and 1,400 millimeters in diameter will be built to supply the gas. The gas will be delivered to Bovanenkovo, where it will enter the Bovanekovo-Ukhta pipeline. The project life is 108 years, meaning gas will be produced until 2131," he said.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Kharasaveyskoye would "not only compensate for falling production at in the Nadym-Pur-Taz region but will also provide additional volumes for export and for the domestic market."
He said the government has created incentives to develop the field. "In 2014, the Tax Code was amended to stimulate the development of new gas fields in the Arctic with mineral extraction tax discounts. According to the amendments, the tax load on fields will increase gradually over 12 years, but it will be lowered 80% in the first year. This is indeed an extensive project which will make a further contribution to developing the whole Arctic region," Novak said.