Rosneft/Gazprom Neft JV puts Messoyakha underground gas storage facility into commercial operation

MOSCOW. April 4 (Interfax) - Messoyakhaneftegaz, a joint venture between Russian oil companies Gazprom Neft and Rosneft , has put the underground associated petroleum gas storage facility at the Messoyakha project in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District into commercial operation.

The joint venture reported it has commissioned the processing of documentation for allotments to the Vostochno-Messoyakhsky and Zapadno-Messoyakhsky blocks and the subsurface site for underground gas storage (UGS).

The company told Interfax that the tender for processing the documentation for the UGS allotment at Zapadno-Messoyakhsky is related to updating the project documentation under the existing license for commercial storage of associated petroleum gas.

"Until 2023, the project document regulated injection of gas as part of the pilot operation of the UGS. In 2023, the transition was made to the stage of commercial operation of the storage facility within the existing boundaries. Under current law, a change in the project document automatically leads to the reregistration subsoil allotments," a spokesman for the company said.

"The contract organization that wins the tender will develop the subsoil allotment plan for Messoyakhaneftegaz and work with [Russian environmental and industrial safety watchdog] Rostekhnadzor on approving and confirming the document taking into account current regulations and standards," the spokesman said.