Wintershall's Siberian JV Reaches Peak Capacity
Wintershall DEA’s 50:50 Achimgaz joint project with Gazprom in Russia has reached plateau production after commissioning this month the last of 108 planned wells, the German oil and gas producer announced on October 29.
Achimgaz, which is developing Achimov formations at the giant Urengoi gas field in Western Siberia, is now producing gas at a rate of 10bn m3/yr, Wintershall DEA said. The joint venture began pilot drilling at Achimov block 1A in 2008 and launched commercial production in 2011. The project has yielded 43bn m3 of gas and 19mn mt of condensate to date.
“All project partners can be proud of the result,” Wintershall board member Thilo Wieland said. “The goals also remain ambitious in the long term: Achimgaz is continuously working on technological and economic optimisations.”
The partners aim to stabilise output at the plateau level by expanding the capacity of Achimgaz’s processing plant. Wintershall DEA added that the experience gained at Achimov 1A would also be employed at its second Achimov joint venture with Gazprom, Achimov Development, which is targeting blocks 4A and 5A.
Wintershall took a 25% stake in the 4A and 5A in 2015, and development drilling began this year. Austria’s OMV is also preparing to take a 25% position at the blocks. A company spokesperson told NGW in early October that the transaction was still on track to be closed by the end of this year.
Urengoi is one of Russia's largest gas fields, first entering production in the 1960s. As its shallower reservoirs reach depletion, Gazprom has looked to exploit the 4,000-metre deep Achimov formation at the site to maintain output. The formation is complex, characterised by high pressure and high temperatures. As such, Gazprom has recruited foreign partners to help with development. The gas giant's oil arm Gazprom Neft recently began joint development of Achimov layers at Urengoi with private Russian producer Novatek as well.
Wintershall DEA is also partnered with Gazprom at the Yuzhno-Russkoye gas field, also in Western Siberia. It is producing oil in the Volga region with Ritek, a subsidiary of Russia’s Lukoil.