PJSC Gazprom said it has put onstream a cluster of geologically complex fields in the Chona River basin in Eastern Siberia.
The Russian state-controlled company expects the project to feed up to 2 million tons of oil a year to the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline system. The Chona cluster holds more than 1.3 billion tons of oil, according to Gazprom.
Spanning the Ignyalinsky, Tympuchikansky and Vakunaisky blocks, the development includes over 150 facilities. “The largest of them are an oil treatment facility, an oil pipeline, a custody transfer point, and two auxiliary power stations”, Gazprom said in a press release.
“The use of advanced solutions has made the development of the Chona oil reserves economically viable, which was previously considered impossible”, it noted. “This oil is contained in complex-structure rock formations: the oil-saturated rock layers are characterized by a low reservoir temperature, small thickness and high salinity”.
“For the first time in Russia, a robotic drilling rig for the construction of onshore wells was applied; this solution made it possible to perform the works a third faster”, Gazprom added.
“Russian enterprises supplied sophisticated process equipment prefabricated to the maximum extent possible, i.e. as modular units”, it said. “As a result, the area and metal consumption of the construction activities were reduced and the impact of the infrastructure to perennially frozen ground was minimized.
“With the use of these solutions, the oil infrastructure was created within a time period unprecedentedly short for the industry: in just two years”.
Gazprom management committee chair Alexey Miller said, “Gazprom is dynamically developing the oil and gas industry in eastern Russia. We create high-capacity advanced enterprises and unique facilities in this territory. We enter new areas and develop hard-to-reach reserves. The efficiency of these activities is fully dependent on the use of cutting-edge technologies”.
“With the launch of the Chona project, we strengthen our positions in the markets of the Asia-Pacific region”, Miller added. “And, in general, we make a significant contribution to strengthening the energy security and the sovereignty of Russia”.’
The Chona cluster is at least the second upstream oil production start-up announced by Gazprom this year. Last month it said it has achieved commercial oil production from the sixth block of the Achimov deposits of the Urengoyskoye field in the West Siberian basin.
Four oil wells in the field’s Block 6A have now been fired up. “In the future, a total of more than 40 wells will be built to perform the full-scale development of Block 6A”, Gazprom said in an online statement April 15.
“The Achimov deposits of the Urengoyskoye field lie at a depth of some 3,400-3,700 meters [11,154.86-12,139.11 feet] and are characterized by an extremely complex geological structure, heterogeneity of rock formations, low permeability, high temperature and abnormally high formation pressure”, Gazprom added.
“High-tech solutions have been used to achieve cost-effective oil production from the complex Achimov deposits. For example, a 3D formation model has been generated to provide support while drilling horizontal wells of significant length; the multi-stage hydraulic fracturing procedure is used as well”.
Gazpromneft-Zapolyarye director-general Vladimir Krupenikov said, “In former times, the extraction of resources of this kind was considered to be a challenge for the entire oil and gas sector. Today, we successfully produce hydrocarbons from the Achimov formations in various geological conditions. The first-ever production of oil from the Achimov deposits of the Urengoyskoye field was made possible due to the development of tools for digital modeling and drilling of high-tech wells. The experience we gained will be used at other blocks and will help develop complex hydrocarbon deposits across Western Siberia”.
Located in the Nadym-Pur-Taz region of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, a traditional gas producing area, the Urengoy oil, gas and condensate field began producing gas in 1978, according to Gazprom.
Urengoy was the biggest gas field at the time of discovery in 1966 with initial reserves of 10.9 trillion cubic meters [35.76 trillion cubic feet] of gas, according to Gazprom.
The Achimov formations have over 1 trillion cubic meters of gas and 400 million tons of condensate classified as C1 (explored) under the Russian system, according to Gazprom.
The formations first produced oil two decades ago under a pilot phase involving Block 1A, as announced by Gazprom July 15, 2008. Block 1A launched into commercial oil production three years later, as announced by Gazprom December 2, 2011.