Yatec aims to increase gas reserves by 25% to 567 bcm in 2022
YAKUTSK. July 5 (Interfax) - Yakutsk Fuel and Energy Company (Yatec) plans to increase its in-place gas reserves by 25% from the current 453 billion cubic meters to 567 bcm in the third quarter of 2022 and to 1 trillion cubic meters or more by 2030, the company said in its annual reported.
"In 2022 we are continuing the implementation of our ambitious investment program, for which we raised financing with the placement of a bond issue last year. The received funds will be channelled into geological exploration and further growth of reserves, as well as capital construction for optimization of field development and creation of reserves for gas production," Yatec CEO said in the report.
"It is expected that in the third quarter of 2022 gas reserves will increase by another quarter and reach 567 bcm," he said. Reserves increased by 16% in 2021.
The company plans to expand its resource base in 2022 in part by licensing open acreage of the Mastakhsky block.
The company's forecast resources are estimated at 611 bcm, a figure that Yatec also intends to increase. It plans to book resources at the Yuzhny and Severny licensed blocks in 2022.
However, Yatec plans to reduce natural gas production by 4.7% to 1.815 bcm this year, while increasing production of unstable gas condensate by 3% to 132,100 tonnes. The growth of production of condensate will lead to an increase in its processing and production of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is expected to rise 14% to 35,274 tonnes.
Yatec exported LPG for the first time in 2021, to Mongolia. Agreements have been reached with customers to ship more than 2,000 tonnes of LPG to Mongolia in 2022, and there are plans to export LPG to China, North Korea and Central Asia, the company said.
The stability of prices for LPG exports in the first half of 2022 was supported by strong demand, as well as significant difficulties with railway and automobile logistics, Yatec said. The company is exploring the possibility of expanding shipments of naphtha and stable gas condensate to East Asia.
The expansion of LPG exports will be facilitated by the anticipated growth of prices in the second half due to a drop in production by leading suppliers because of seasonal repairs to production facilities, the company said.
"I am confident that, despite all the uncertainties that the world faced in the first months of 2022, Yatec will continue to confidently move toward the achievement of its long-term strategic goals," Korobov said, adding that management has "fully worked out a risk monitoring and assessment system and we can say with confidence that in financial, technical and technological terms Yatec is absolutely stable in the dramatically changed conditions."
Yatec, an independent gas producer, holds the licenses to the Maisky, Severny, Tymtaidakhsky and Yuzhny blocks, and the Tolonskoye, Srednevilyuiskoye, Mastakhskoye and Khailakhskoye fields in Yakutia, as well as the Maisky block and Buratinskoye gas field in Kalmykia.