Today Gazprom has commenced the Bednodemyanovskoye underground gas storage (UGS) facility construction.

Bednodemyanovskoye will become one of the largest UGS facilities in Russia and one of the basic gas storages smoothening seasonal fluctuations in gas supply (also during abnormally cold snaps) in the central part of the country. Besides, the UGS facility will provide for export gas supplies through the Nord Stream gas pipeline.

The Bednodemyanovskoye UGS facility is being created in aquifers at the border between the Penza Oblast and the Republic of Mordovia. A 30 MW gas compressor unit (GCU), a gas treatment unit and gas collection stations will be built, 127 production wells will be drilled and brought onstream as part of the facility construction operations.

The UGS facility will be put into operation in a phased manner. By the 2015–2016 withdrawal season, when the facility is scheduled to become operational, its working gas capacity is to stand at 2 billion cubic meters, a GCU and 41 production wells are to be put into service.

By autumn/winter 2019–2020 the UGS facility is expected to operate at its full capacity: working gas – 5 billion cubic meters, maximum daily deliverability in the beginning of the withdrawal season – 70 million cubic meters, average daily deliverability from December through February – 43 million cubic meters.

Background

Underground gas storage (UGS) facilities are an integral part of the Russian Unified Gas Supply System and are situated in the key gas consuming regions. UGS facilities help smooth out seasonal fluctuations in gas demand, reduce peak loads in the Unified Gas Supply System and provide for better flexibility and reliability of gas supply. The UGS facility network supplies up to 20 per cent of gas during the heating season and up to 30 per cent of gas during cold snaps to Russian consumers.

There are 25 UGS facilities operational in the Russian Federation. The Severo-Stavropolskoye UGS facility is the biggest one with the working gas capacity of 24 billion cubic meters, the potential maximum daily deliverability at the beginning of the withdrawal season – 647.7 million cubic meters, the average daily deliverability from December through February – 522.1 million cubic meters. Operational gas reserves are 65.2 billion cubic meters.

Expansion of UGS capacities is a strategic objective of Gazprom. In February 2011 the Management Committee approved the 2011 Action Plan for facilities construction, retrofitting and commissioning as well as the terms of reference for the underground gas storage system development until 2015.

Gazprom retrofits and expands some of the existing UGS facilities, particularly Kasimovskoye, Kuschevskoye, Sovkhoznoye and Stepnovskoye, simultaneously with ongoing construction and commissioning of the Udmurtia reserving complex, the Kaliningrad and Volgograd UGS facilities. Moreover, it is planned to begin constructing the Novomoskovskoye and Shatrovskoye UGS facilities along with gas storages in the Republic of Tatarstan.

A wide scope of exploration work scheduled for Eastern Siberia and the Far East is aimed at searching for the formations suitable for underground storage of gas and helium concentrate.

From 2011 to 2015 it is planned to raise the potential maximum daily deliverability of UGS facilities to 40 per cent.