Novatek Launches New Gas Field
Russia’s Novatek has brought on stream a new gas field in Western Siberia, it announced in a statement on December 19.
The North-Russkoye field, now at the pilot production phase, will flow 5.7bn m3 of gas and 700,000 mt of condensate at peak capacity, the private company said. Its reserves are estimated at 104bn m3 of gas and 6.5mn mt of condensate.
North-Russkoye is the largest of several Novatek fields that collectively form the North-Russky project, situated in Russia’s main gas-producing region of Yamal Nenets. It is also the first to enter production.
The other fields – Dorogovskoye, East-Tazovskoye and Kharbeyskoye – are scheduled for launch in 2020 and 2021, raising North-Russky’s output to 13bn m3/yr, Novatek said.
The North-Russky fields will supply the domestic market rather than underpinning Novatek's LNG projects further north, helping to offset decline at the company's older assets. Their close proximity to one another will optimise capital costs on gas and condensate treatment facilities and transport infrastructure, Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson said in a statement.
Novatek produced 55.9bn m3 of gas in the first nine months of 2019, up 11.1% yr/yr.