OREANDA-NEWS. Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov and Rosmorport CEO Andrey Tarasenko recently announced the signing of an agreement on the design of an 8.5 million ton annual capacity trans-shipment terminal at the Novy Port field, for the transportation of Arctic oil. The announcement was made on December 5, 2013 during Transport Week 2013, at a signing ceremony attended by Minister for Transport of the Russian Federation Maksim Sokolov and Head of the Federal Marine and River Transport Agency, Alexander Davydenko.

Construction of the terminal, due for completion by end-2015, will be financed by Gazprom Neft, with Rosmorport responsible for design drafting, project documentation, and the procurement of construction and regulatory consents. Rosmorport will assume management of the facility on completion.

Serving the Novy Port oil field, the terminal's facilities will include offshore and land navigation equipment, a marine traffic control system, landside port infrastructure facilities, office and other accommodation to support the work of government agencies, and a range of other facilities. The terminal will be located near Cape Kamenny on the Yamal Peninsula, connected to the Novy Port field by a 100km pipeline.

Novy Port oil field, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area.

With reserves of 230 million tons of oil and 270 billion cubic meters of gas, the Novy Port field is one of the largest currently under development in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Oil was first produced at Novy Port in August 2012, and a drilling program for pilot field development completed in September 2013. Full-scale drilling is expected to begin at Novy Port in 2014, ahead of full commercial production. The field is expected to reach its peak oil production capacity of 8.5 million tons per year after 2020. The viability of year-round oil export by sea was first confirmed in spring 2011, following a trial journey by ice-breaker Vaigach (on which Gazprom Neft specialists were present), from the port of Sabetta (located on the north-east of the Yamal Peninsula) to Cape Kamenny,, 400km to the south. Oil will be transported initially to an interim terminal near Murmansk before being pumped to Europe.