May 31 – June 1, 2013, Surgut saw the Regional Conference for Europe and Central Asia on “The experience of the Russian oil companies in the effective use of associated petroleum gas" initiated by the Federal Supervisory Natural Resources Management Service and by the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR) with the support of the Government of Khanty-Mansiysk.
The conference was hosted by Surgutneftegas Company that in 2012 achieved a record level of 99.2% for associated petroleum gas utilization.
The company is currently developing 64 fields, including 59 in Western Siberia and five fields in Eastern Siberia (in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)).
For years, Surgutneftegas has been one of the industry leaders as far as utilization of associated petroleum gas (APG) is concerned and has been rigorously promoting gas processing and use for power generation. 85% of the total environmental construction expenditures is directed into construction and upgrade of air protection facilities that include APG utilization facilities.
The company operates 26 compressor plants, 1 gas compression and treatment plant, 21 gas turbine power plants, 7 gas-fired reciprocating engine plants, three gas processing plants, 1 gas treatment plant and 3,311 km of main and field gas pipelines.
By using associated petroleum gas as fuel, a network of small power generation plants provides electricity in remote locations. APG is also utilized by the company to maintain reservoir pressure; it is used as a fuel for boiler houses, furnaces, initial water separation and oil treatment units, vehicle air heating lines, etc.
The air protection plan of the company expands every year due to construction and upgrading of the production facilities, addition of new facilities for associated gas utilization. For example, in 2012, the company built and put into operation a gas turbine plant near Booster Pump Station ( BPS) No. 2 in Vachimskoye field and a gas turbine power plant by BPS No. 3 in Vostochno Surgutskoye field, and completed upgrading of the gas-fired reciprocating engine plant in Vostochno Surgutskoye field.
Construction of the 307 km gas pipeline will be completed in 2013 and a compressor station in Muryaunskoye field will be built.
In 2012, the level of utilization of associated petroleum gas increased from 97.8% to 99.2% as compared to 2011, the volume of APG flaring decreased by three times.
Surgutneftegas utilized 12.2147 billion cubic meters out of 12.3131 billion cubic meters of recovered associated petroleum gas in 2012. APG use was at 99.29% for Western Siberia, and 97.58% for the fields located in Eastern Siberia.
In the first quarter of 2013, the company managed to increase the average utilization of associated gas to 99.51%. The joint stock company recovered 3.0417 billion cubic meters of gas, and used 3.0269 billion cubic meters.
The APG use within Surgutneftegas in Western Siberia reached 99.53% and 99.19% in Eastern Siberia in the first quarter of 2013.
