Gazprom Neft has reported that the millionth barrel of the new oil, ARCO (Arctic Oil), has been produced at the Prirazlomnoye deposit, in the Pechora Sea.
The second tanker to deliver the oil to North West Europe in the next few days is currently being loaded. The first tanker carrying oil from Prirazlomnoye set off from the deposit in April.
A further two tankers will transport around one million barrels of oil from the Prirazlomnoye field before the end of the year. In total, approximately 2.2 million barrels (or around 300,000 tonnes of oil) will be produced at the Prirazlomnoye field in the first year of its development.
Prirazlomnoye is the world’s first project involving oil extraction on the Arctic shelf by means of a stationary platform. The extraction as part of pilot production began in December 2013 . The new oil, ARCO, was first delivered to the global market in April 2014. The new Prirazlomnaya offshore, ice-resistant, stationary oil production platform was developed specifically for this field to facilitate all technical operations, including drilling, extraction, oil storage, preparation and shipment of oil products. The Prirazlomnaya platform was designed to operate in Arctic conditions and its design specifications rule out the possibility of oil spills during the extraction, storage and shipment of oil.
One production well has been drilled at the deposit and the drilling of an injection well is expected to be completed shortly. There are also plans to complete the main drilling work for an absorption well by the end of 2014. Further four wells are to be drilled in 2015. In total, the project will involve the commission of 36 wells, comprising: 19 production wells, 16 injection wells and one absorption well.
Alexander Dyukov , Chairman of Gazprom Neft’s Management Board, stated:
“Gazprom Neft is the first company to extract oil on Russia’s Arctic shelf. The production of the millionth barrel of oil at the Prirazlomnoye field is a milestone and further proof of the consistent development of the project and its final transition into full-scale development. Gazprom Neft plays a leading role in developing oil deposits on the Arctic shelf and we can build on this experience for new Arctic projects in the future.”
Related: First crude cargo from Gazprom’s Arctic platform set to leave in April