Russneft to feed Varyegan oil into mainline system via own junction bypassing Rosneft's Samotlor
MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax) - Russneft has finished building an oil pipeline that will enable it to feed crude from the Varyegan group of fields into the mainline system through its own junction based on the assets of subsidiary Aganneftegazgeologia (ANGG).
"Long-awaited news has come from the Nizhnevartovsk branch: construction has been completed of a 58-km pressure oil pipeline from the oil processing and pumping shop of the Varyeganskoye field to the third booster pump station of the Roslavlskoye field, consisting of 36 km of new pipeline with diameter of 325 mm and a reconstructed section of 22 km (an existing gas pipeline with diameter of 426 mm converted to an oil pipeline)," Russneft's in-house newspaper reported.
The paper reported earlier that this oil pipeline would replace one that has reached the end of its service life and would significantly improve the logistics of delivering crude to the trunk pipeline system.
"At present, oil from the Varyegan group of fields is delivered to the mainline system through Rosneft's Samotlor point. The oil pipeline runs south. It is 150 km long. The pipelines are more than 40 years old. They need to be replaced - Russneft came to this conclusion several years ago already. This required huge investment even then, and today you can imagine. Now we'll look to the west, where the trunk oil pipeline lies," Russneft's director of oil and gas treatment and delivery, Vitaly Lesiv was quoted as saying by the paper in December 2022.
"The fields of former enterprise Aganneftegazgeologia are on the way to it. They have good oil preparation and transport systems. These facilities are becoming available due to the decline of production at the fields of form ANGG, which have been developed for a long time. A decision was born to send oil from the Varyegan group of fields west," Lesiv said at the time.
The company expected then that the pipeline would be ready for operation in July 2023.