Gazprom Approves Choice of Next Megafield
The top brass at Russian gas monopoly Gazprom met for talks on the Yamal Peninsula July 13 and agreed the full-scale development of the supergiant Kharasavei field would start in 2019, with commissioning due in 2023. Kharasavei is north of the producing Bovanenko field and has reserves of some 2 trillion m³ in C1+c2. Russian reserves categories do not consider the economics of production and so are more generous.
The Yamal gas production centre, built around Bovanenko, will become Russia's largest as the Nadym-Pur-Taz region reserves dwindle, CEO Alexei Miller said. The third and final gas production facility of Bovanenko will come on line this year, bringing the field to its design production capacity of 115bn Russian m³/yr. Russian volumetric units for gas are a little more generous than other standards.
Phase one will start production in 2023 at a design capacity of 32bn m³/yr and the deeper reservoirs later. The pre-development project envisages the construction of a comprehensive gas treatment unit, a booster compressor station, clusters of producing gas wells, and transport and power infrastructure. Offshore wells will be drilled from onshore.
To prevent the permafrost from melting during gas production, wells will be constructed with thermally-insulated tubings and casings. Closed-loop water supply systems will help avoid soil and water pollution. There will also be special crossings for deer and wildlife migration.
Kharasavei gas will flow some 100 km to Bovanenko and from there into Russia’s grid.
Particular attention at the meeting was paid to shipping logistics for the pre-development of Kharasavei. Over 1.5mn metric tons of equipment and materials will be delivered to the field during the construction period.
Miller said the Yamal gas production centre was an "ambitious strategic goal of national importance. The centre is key and essential to the domestic gas industry in the 21st century. It offers a new frame of reference for gas flows in Russia and export markets. Bringing Bovanenko to its full capacity, exploring Kharasavei and later the other Yamal fields, and expanding the northern gas transmission corridor are all crucial activities."
Gazprom has said that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline makes economic sense because, among other things, Russia's gas production is also moving north, away from the depleting Soviet-era workhorses Yamburg and Urengoi, so transiting Ukraine represents an unnecessary detour southwards.