Gazprom Neft Readies Offshore Arctic Oil Terminal

Russia’s Gazprom Neft has completed pre-construction works for its Arctic terminal in the offshore area of the Ob Sea, near Cape Kammeny in the Yamal Peninsula. The terminal is designed to facilitate the year-round export, by tankers, of oil from the Novoportovskoye oil and gas condensate field.

Supporting oil transportation infrastructure to ensure the effective operation of the Arctic terminal on the shore of the Ob Sea includes underwater and overland pipelines 10.5 kilometers (6.5 miles) long, storage facilities and pumping stations with built-in hydraulic-impact protection system to minimize the risk of pipeline leakage. 

Pre-construction installation works on the 80-meter-high (260 feet) terminal have involved one of the largest crane vessels in the world — the Oleg Strashnov, with a lifting capacity of 5,000 tons.

All pre-construction works are expected to be completed in 2015, with full testing of the Arctic terminal (which will have capacity for handling more than 8.5 million tons of crude per year) due to commence in early 2016.

The company says that the approved process and instrumentation scheme will ensure zero emissions of pollutants into the waters of the Ob Sea (both during construction and thereafter), while technical solutions have been developed to ensure fully reliable operation in Arctic conditions.

Oil shipments by seagoing tankers will be undertaken under the oversight of emergency services and accompanied by icebreaking support vessels.

Gazprom Neft First Deputy CEO Vadim Yakovlev commented: “Pre-construction works on the Arctic terminal mark a major step in the commencement of year-round shipments of Novy Port oil to European customers. Commercial production at Russia’s Novoportovskoye field from early 2016 will mark the emergence of a new, northernmost outpost in oil production, unique in its operating conditions, infrastructure and transportation facilities. Supplies from Novy Port are expected to reach two million tons as early as 2016, and we expect to be producing more than four million tons here from 2017.”

The Novoportovskoye field is one of the most significant oil and gas condensate fields currently under development in the Yamal Peninsula. It is located within the Arctic Circle, some distance from pipeline transportation infrastructure. Recoverable C1 and C2 reserves at the Novoportovskoye field comprise more than 250 million tons of crude and condensate and more than 320 billion cubic meters of gas (with Palaeozoic deposits taken into account). Drilling under pilot field development was completed by Gazprom Neft Novy Port in 2014, with production drilling commencing thereafter.

Shipments by sea from Cape Kammeny have been identified as the optimum solution for crude transportation. The first opportunity for exporting oil by sea during the winter season was confirmed by Gazprom Neft as early as 2011, following a pilot voyage by an icebreaker from the port of Sabetta (in the north—east of the Yamal peninsula) to Cape Kammeny.