Gazprom Neft Takes Steps to Monetise More Arctic Gas
Russian state oil company Gazprom Neft has reported on March 24 that it had made progress in efforts to use more gas at its remote oilfields in the Arctic.
The company boosted the amount of gas it used at the Novoportovskoye field on the Yamal Peninsula by over 31% last year to 8.59bn m3, it said in a statement last week. It is converting its existing gas treatment facility at the site into a fully-fledged gas processing complex capable of handling 15bn m3/yr of gas.
Designs for the complex were approved by state authorities in January. Around two-thirds of the gas it processes is expected to be associated petroleum gas (APG) and the remaining third dry gas. The complex's completion, previously fixed for 2022, will enable Gazprom Neft to process 95% of Novoportovskoye's APG on a stable basis, in line with Russian rules on flaring. Supplies from the complex will be pumped into Russia’s national gas system via a 20.5bn m3/yr pipeline Gazprom Neft wants to construct across the Gulf of Ob.
Another of Gazprom Neft's major Arctic oil projects is Messoyakha, consisting of the producing East-Messoyakhskoye field and the undeveloped West-Messoyakhskoye field. To avoid flaring, the company plans to commission this year a 1.5bn m3/yr compressor station and a 47-km pipeline to pump gas from East to West Messoyakhskoye, where it plans to construct an underground storage facility, it said.
Infrastructure is scarce in the Russian Arctic, making gas utilisation a challenge for operators. Earlier Gazprom Neft had even commissioned a feasibility study on building an LNG export terminal to handle Novoportovskoye's gas, before settling on the pipeline plan instead.