1.4. Oil resources on Russia’s Euro-Arctic shelf
«Previous Next» Back to reportThe Prirazlomnoe oil field
The Prirazlomnoe oil field is located in Russia’s European (North) Arctic Continental shelf in the Pechora Sea, 60 km from the Varandey settlement (Nenetsky Autonomous District), 950 km from Arkhangelsk and 1025 km from Murmansk. The field, which is situated at a depth of 19-20 m, was discovered by the “Arcticmorneftegazrazvedka” State production complex in 1989 with the exploratory well Nr. 1 with a depth of 3100 m. A license to develop the Prirazlomnoe field was issued to Sevmorneftegaz in 2002.33
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Fig. The Prirazlomnoe oil field.34
The project to develop the offshore Prirazlomnoe field is a pilot project for all Russian companies operating on the Arctic shelf. The project has attracted significant interest and attention in the process of developing and organising the field.
For your information:
A chronology of the Prirazlomnoe oil field development:
1989 - field discovered
1993 - license issued to the “Rosshelf” public company.
Construction began on the offshore ice-resistant stationary platform.
2000 - included in the production sharing agreement.
2002 - license transferred to the Sevmorneftegaz private company. Construction resumed on the platform. Sevmorneftegaz purchased the upper structure of the Hutton TLP platform.
2003-2005 - reconstruction and modernisation of the upper Hutton structure. Construction of the caisson and platform rigging.
Recoverable oil reserves from the Prirazlomnoe field are estimated at 83.2 million tonnes, with the maximum volume extracted annually amounting to 6.5 million tonnes. Gazprom estimates that in excess of USD 1 billion of investment will be needed up to 2012 in order to develop the field. By this time, the field will produce an annual output of 6.6 million tonnes of oil.35 In total, 5 exploratory wells have been drilled on the site, 4 of them did reveal productive deposits, while one (well number two) failed.
For your information:
Read about the vulnerable environment and environmental challenge connected with oil and gas activity in the in the Arctic in chapters 3 and 4 of this report.
There are plans to drill 36 wells on the Prirazlomnoe oil field: 19 extracting wells, 16 injection wells and one specifically for pumping the waste materials arising from drilling into absorptive seams.
The project concerned with developing the Prirazlomnoe field has been executed by the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Natural Gases and Gas Technology. They have suggested that the infrastructure established in accordance with this project will become a basis for the subsequent development of oil and gas resources in the Barents and Kara Seas.36
The main element of the Prirazlomnoe field is the steel, gravity-type, ice-resistant platform, This installation is supposed to be constructed in the central part of the field.
For your information:
Well construction makes provision for the “zero fault” principle. The commercial disposal of spent drilling fluid, sludge and other technological waste materials will take place in a specially drilled absorptive well (in seams of rock).
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Fig. The Prirazlomnoe offshore ice-resistant stationary platform.37
The Prirazlomnoe platform
Basic characteristics:
• Length - 126 m
• Width - 126 m
• Height above sea level - around 120 m
• Mass (excluding solid ballast) - 110,000 t
• (including solid ballast) - 506,000 t
• Number of wells - 40
• Overall capacity of the caisson - 159,890 m3
• Volume of oil in the tanks - 136,000 m3
• Level of maximum extraction per day - 20 748 m3
• Personnel - 160 individuals
• Period of self-regulation - 60 days
• Rated service life - 25 years (according to data from the official site of Sevmorneftegaz - 50 years)
Functions of the offshore ice-resistant stationary platform
• drilling wells;
• oil and gas extraction;
• oil storage;
• direct unloading of oil on to tankers.
Total capital investment in the design and construction of the platform amounts to USD 930 million.
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Fig. Schematic representation of the Prirazlomnoe offshore ice-resistant stationary platform.
For your information:
A peculiarity of the platform
The Prirazlomnoe platform has also been designed for the purpose of receiving oil from other fields. Sevmorneftegaz believes the platform effectively permits involvement in the development of small, adjacent oil and gas structures without constructing extra platforms.
The upper structure of the Prirazlomnoe platform is developed using the upper structure of the Hutton platform. The Hutton platform was for 15 years in operation in the North Sea for the British company Kerr Mc Geen, before it was sold to the Russians. The plan is to tow the 250,000 tonnes platform, to the site where the Prirazlomnoe field is situated.
Oil prepared on the platform for transporting will accumulate in the platform’s oil storage tanks up to a total of 110,000 m3. The oil will be transported in shuttle tankers to the floating store in the Kola Gulf, and then by line tankers with dead weights of 120,000 tonnes, from where it will be exported.
For the purpose of safety in relation to filling, there is a proposal to use reinforced multifunctional ice class supply vessels to deliver supply loads and the conveyance of personnel to the platform. The vessels will also be used in emergency situations.
For your information:
Enterprises participating in the establishment of the infrastructure on Prirazlomnoe
• the following Federal State unitary enterprises: the “Sevmashpredpriyatie” manufacturing department and the “Zvezdochka” municipal enterprise in Arkhangelsk oblast
• the Rubin marine engineering central design office
• the “Krylov Institute” a scientific research centre for shipbuilding named after the academic А.N. Krylov
• the “Prometey” central scientific research institute for construction materials in St. Petersburg
• the “Vyborgskiy” shipbuilding factory (a public company).
Offshore bases providing access to the Prirazlomnoe offshore platform will be accommodated for in Murmansk, Naryan-Mar and Severodvinsk. The base in Murmansk will take care of the reception, storage and shipment of supply loads received from the country’s central regions as well as abroad. Cargo will mainly be supplied to the platform by the special fleet of the Sevmorneftegaz private company from Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, and partly by helicopters from Naryan-Mar. The production repair depot in Severodvinsk on the territory of the “Sevmashpredpriyatie” Federal State unitary enterprise (manufacturing department) will take care of repairs, assembly and testing of equipment needed for exploitation.38
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Foreign partners
More than 40 companies from 15 countries supply equipment for the Prirazlomnoe offshore ice-resistant stationary platform. The most extensive collaboration has been with Norwegian companies (volume of products supplied USD 56.8 million), companies from the UK (USD 27.8 million), Italy (USD 24.8 million), the USA (USD 13.5 million), Germany (USD 8.0 million), Holland (USD 6.8 million) and Sweden (USD 2.8 million).
The Medynsko-Varandey licensed area
The Medynsko-Varandey section, covering a total area of 2,405 km2, is situated in the south-eastern part of the Barents Sea, in the shallow waters of the Pechora Sea with depths of up to 19 m. The field is situated 1,000 km from Murmansk and 410 km from Naryan-Mar. The area has 6 basic structures, three in each of the sub-sections.
oil reserves and resources (geological/recoverable) according to the licensed area are 700 and 163 million tonnes respectively.39
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Fig. Licensed oil and gas areas in the Pechora Sea.
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Fig. Oil output forecast up to 2020 - the Medynsko-Varandey licensed area.40
Medynskoye Sea oil field
The Medynskoye Sea oil field was opened in 1997. The field is situated in the south-eastern part of the Arctic shelf of the Barents Sea in the shallow waters of the Pechora Sea, 23 km from shore (fig. 5). Sea depths in the area of the field vary between 10 and 18 m.41
Oil exports are planned directly from Medynskoe by transhipment from the Kola Gulf (Lavna), or the Pechenga Bay. Destinations ports include Rotterdam and cities along the east coast of the USA. In order to export the oil, newly constructed shuttle tankers from the LU ice category are proposed with a minimum dead weight of 40,000 tonnes. To export raw oil directly from the platform, the use of existing Astrakhan type tankers with a dead weight in the region of 20,000 tonnes is considered a possibility. In order to export oil to the sales market, the leasing of line tankers with dead weights of up to 250,000 tonnes is being considered.42
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Fig. Oil output forecast up to 2020 - the Pomor licensed area.
The Kolokolmor and Pomor licensed areas
These areas are situated in the southern part of the Pechora Sea. In this area, the sea does not exceed a depth of 40 m. The Kolokolmor area extends to 1,540 km2, Pomor to 1,677 km2. The nearest ports are Naryan-Mar (distance: 200 km ) and Murmansk (800 km). Significant oil and gas resources have been revealed here. The estimate is that 300 million tonnes of oil may be recovered from these licensed areas.43
The fields consist of a great number of seams, with hydrocarbons being found at depths ranging roughly from 1,000 to 4,000 m. The right to use the subsoil in the Medynsko-Varandey, Pomor and Kolokolmor areas of the Barents Sea has been granted to the private company“ Arcticshelfneftegaz” until 2025.
In accordance with the work programme for 2003, “Arcticshelfneftegaz” plans to execute a significant amount of geological exploration and technical measures aimed at preparing the licensed areas for development, as well as establish an infrastructure for extraction.44
Between 2009 and 2010, “Arcticshelfneftegaz” plans to begin commercial exploitation of the oil using ice-resistant stationary platforms.
The Dolgin oil field
The Dolgin oil field was discovered by Gazprom in 2000. This field is large-scale and borders the Prirazlomnoe oil field. In 2005, Gazprom obtained the licence to utilise this area of the subsoil for the purpose of prospecting and extracting mineral resources. 45
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Fig. Oil output forecast up to 2020 - the Kolokolmor licensed area.
The drilling of exploratory well number two will happen from July to October in 2007. The drilling of the 3500 meter deep well will be handled using the leased “SeaDrill 7” self-raising drilling rig. The sea depth at the point of drilling is 42 meters. An additional two wells are scheduled to be drilled in 2008. “Gazflot” (a subsidiary of Gazprom) will develop the field.46
For your information:
The natural environment in the areas of the fields in the Pechora Sea are characterised by the following:47
• a period when storms are prevalent (September - November) with waves reaching heights of 6 m;
• the freezing of floating and underwater structures;
• dense and continuous fog;
• shallow sea waters;
• frozen soil;
• brief, cold summers and prolonged winter periods with air temperatures dropping down to -48 °С;
• difficult glacial conditions over the winter period (a uniform layer of ice up to 2.0 m thick, ice hummocking and contraction by up to 3 points, the periodically changing direction of the drift in ice fields, the occurrence of stationary ice formations (grounded ice hummocks) with a keel depth of up to 20 m, ploughing through the bottoms of drifting ice formations, thick heaps of ice forming on stationary offshore structures and shores and so forth);
• significant fluctuations in sea levels (up to 5 m over a 100 year period);
• a marine Arctic climate.
Footnotes:
[33] http://www.sevmorneftegaz.ru/projects/pnm/index.html (2006 year) Back
[34] http://www.sevmorneftegaz.ru/projects/pnm/index.html (2006 year) Back
[35] http://www.oilru.com/news/32210/ (2006 year) Back (11.10.2005)
[36] http://www.sevmorneftegaz.ru/projects/pnm/project/index.html (2006 year) Back
[37] http://www.sevmorneftegaz.ru/projects/pnm/platform/index.html (2006 year) Back
[38] “ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN BY THE Sevmorneftegaz PRIVATE COMPANY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OIL AND GAS FIELDS ON RUSSIA’S ARCTIC SHELF”, Ivan N. CHERNOV, Sevmorneftegaz private company. RAO/CIS OFFSHORE 2005 Back
[39] CONCEPTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEDYNSKO-VARANDEY LICENSED AREA IN THE PECHORA SEA, Boris K. Kutitchkin, the “Arcticshelfneftegaz” private company - Yuri F. Federovskiy, the “Sintezneftegaz” private company - Leonid G. Kul’pin, the “Morneft” scientific research and design institute - Yuri A. Simonov, the Central scientific research institute named after the academic А.N. Krylov. RAO/CIS OFFSHORE 2005 Back
[40] http://www.ashng.ru/business/mining/prognosis/ (2006 year) Back
[41] PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF THE TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS FOR ESTABLISHING GROUPS OF WELLS WITH A VIEW TO EXPLOITING THEM ALL YEAR ROUND FOR THE “MEDYNSKOYE SEA” OIL FIELD, Anton A. KHISTYAEV, Alexander A. NIKITENKO, Vladislav V. BESKHIZHKO, the “Morneftegazproekt” private company, Igor A. GORSHKOV, Yuri M. TRAPEZNIKOV, the “Malakhit” St. Petersburg maritime machine building office (a Federal State unitary enterprise). RAO/CIS OFFSHORE 2005 Back
[42] CONCEPTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEDYNSKO-VARANDEY LICENSED AREA IN THE PECHORA SEA, Boris K. Kutitchkin, the “Arcticshelfneftegaz” private company - Yuri F. Federovskiy, the “Sintezneftegaz” private company - Leonid G. Kul’pin, the “Morneft” scientific research and design institute - Yuri A. Simonov, the Central scientific research institute named after the academic А.N. Krylov. RAO/CIS OFFSHORE 2005 Back
[43] http://www.ashng.ru/business/ (2006 year) Back
[44] http://www.ashng.ru/business/plans/ (2006 year) Back
[45] http://www.mnr.gov.ru/part/?act=more&id=1428&pid=11 (2006 year) Back
[46] http://www.adm-nao.ru/?page=0000&news=713 (2006 year) Back
[47] CONCEPTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEDYNSKO-VARANDEY LICENSED AREA IN THE PECHORA SEA, Boris K. Kutitchkin, the “Arcticshelfneftegaz” private company - Yuri F. Federovskiy, the “Sintezneftegaz” private company - Leonid G. Kul’pin, the “Morneft” scientific research and design institute - Yuri A. Simonov, the Central scientific research institute named after the academic А.N. Krylov. RAO/CIS OFFSHORE 2005 Back
