OREANDA-NEWS. Today the Onshore Processing Facility (OPF) of the Kirinskoye gas and condensate field in the Sakhalin Region hosted an official ceremony dedicated to the first gas production and its transmission system testing.

Taking part in the ceremony were Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Yury Trutnev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, Alexander Novak, Russian Minister of Energy, Alexander Khoroshavin, Governor of the Sakhalin Region as well as heads of Gazprom's relevant units, subsidiaries and contracting companies.

The command to launch gas production was given by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Kirinskoye field is located in the Sea of Okhotsk, 28 kilometers off the shore. For the first time in Russia a subsea production facility is installed here. The key element of the system is placed at a depth of 90 meters and comprised of several high-pressure pipelines fixed to a single base and connected under a specific pattern. The manifold gathers the produced gas, which is then conveyed via a subsea pipeline to the OPF. After being treated at the OPF, the gas is transferred via a 139-kilometer gas pipeline to the main compressor station of the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas transmission system.

The subsea production facility makes it possible to produce hydrocarbons in severe climatic conditions, even under ice, with no platforms or other above-water facilities required. When designing the facility, Gazprom took into account the seismic activity in the region, and that is why the equipment is resistant to earthquakes with magnitudes of up to 9 points.

A novel semi-submersible drilling rig – Polyarnaya Zvezda (Polar Star) – owned by Gazprom and constructed on the Company's request at Vyborg Shipyard is used for constructing wells in the Kirinskoye field. This drilling rig of the latest – sixth – generation is designed for operation in the Arctic conditions as cutting-edge technologies and equipment were used for its construction.

By now, one production well is ready and six more are planned to be built in the field. Once the nominal capacity is reached, gas production will amount to 5.5 billion cubic meters a year. The Kirinskoye OPF is meant to receive gas not only from the Kirinskoye field, but eventually from other fields of the Sakhalin III project as well.

In order to preserve Sakhalin's unparalleled ecosystem Gazprom strictly adheres to Russian and international environmental standards while pre-developing and operating the Kirinskoye field. For instance, the Company consistently monitors the environmental situation there.

“For the first time in the Russian gas industry a subsea production facility was constructed to develop a field in the Russian continental shelf. The experience gained by Gazprom at the Kirinskoye field will be used for developing other Russian offshore fields.

Subsea production technologies proved to be efficient, reliable and safe. Their application makes it possible to considerably mitigate environmental impacts,” said Alexey Miller.

Background

The Sakhalin shelf is one of the main sources of gas supplies to consumers of the Russian Far East. As part of the Sakhalin III project, Gazprom operates three blocks: Kirinsky, Ayashsky and Vostochno-Odoptinsky. The Sakhalin III gas resources are estimated at 1.1 trillion cubic meters, the bulk of them being concentrated in the Kirinsky block.
The Kirinskoye field as well as the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye and Mynginskoye gas and condensate fields discovered by Gazprom are situated within the Kirinsky block.
Geological exploration operations were completed at the Kirinskoye field in 2011. All reserves are within the C1 category and amount to 162.5 billion cubic meters of gas and 19.1 million tons of gas condensate.
Gazprom is currently engaged in exploratory drilling in the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field. The drilling operations are being carried out by Gazprom's advanced semi-submersible drilling rig – Severnoye Siyaniye (a counterpart of Polyarnaya Zvezda).