Moscow, August 29 - Neftegaz.RU. The Gazprom Board of Directors highlighted that Gazprom had the largest amount of explored natural gas reserves in the world, totaling 35.4 trillion m3 (А+В1+С1 categories) as of December 31, 2017.
Gazprom is currently re-estimating its hydrocarbon reserves and recording them in the state register. These procedures are meant to be completed before the end of 2020.
In 2017, Gazprom produced 472.1 billion m3 of gas and added 852.9 billion m3 to its reserves, setting an absolute record. The total growth in gas reserves thanks to exploration in the period since 2002, when the program was launched, is 9.2 trillion m3.
For the purposes of long-term gas production, Gazprom is conducting geological exploration in the Nadym-Pur-Taz region, the Yamal Peninsula, Yakutia and the Irkutsk Region, as well as offshore in the Arctic and Russia’s Far East.
The company’s shelf operations are concentrated in the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea, and the Sea of Okhotsk. The number of fields discovered by Gazprom in that area since 1995 is 11, including the Severo-Kamennomysskoye, Kamennomysskoye-Sea and Yuzhno-Kirinskoye fields with their unique reserves.
In the course of 2017, 2 exploratory wells were drilled in those seas, with 3D seismic surveys covering 7,400 square kilometers. In 2018, the above operations resulted in a substantial reserve addition of 768 billion m3 of gas (А+В1+С1 categories), including 667 billion m3 in the Leningradskoye field and 101 billion m3 in the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field. In 2018–2021, it is planned to complete the construction of eight wells and perform 3D seismic surveys of over 9,000 square kilometers.
In the eastern part of Russia, the company is actively preparing hydrocarbon reserves for commercial development in order to create new gas production centers. In 2017, Gazprom built two exploratory wells at the Kovyktinskoye field in the Irkutsk Region and started to drill another 4, conducting 3D seismic surveys of 2,400 square kilometers.
In 2018–2021, it is planned to complete the construction of 20 exploratory wells and conduct 3D seismic surveys of 3,800 square kilometers. In Yakutia, efforts are underway to further explore the Chayandinskoye, Tas-Yuryakhskoye, Verkhnevilyuchanskoye, Sobolokh-Nedzhelinskoye and Srednetyungskoye fields. Last year, an exploratory well was built at the Tas-Yuryakhskoye field. In 2018–2021, 14 wells will be built within Gazprom’s licensed blocks.
A traditional area for gas production – the Nadym-Pur-Taz region – still has great potential in terms of reserve additions. Experts estimate the resource potential of the above-Cenomanian deposits at Gazprom’s fields in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area to be approximately 4 trillion m3 of gas. The Achimov and Jurassic deposits in the region may contain up to 40 trillion m3 of gas.
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