Today the Gazprom delegation led by Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee started a business trip to Novy Urengoy.

The delegation visited comprehensive gas treatment unit (CGTU) No.22 at the second pilot area of the Urengoy oil and gas condensate field, the Achimov deposits. The CGTU commissioning enabled Gazprom to launch its first independent project on gas production from the Achimov deposits featuring a more complex geological structure as compared to the conventional Cenomanian and Valanzhin deposits.

In addition, the delegation visited central oil gathering facility No.1 and a compressor station for associated petroleum gas (APG) utilization in the Urengoy field. Compressor stations commissioning became another important step toward the Company’s strategy implementation oriented at raising the share of APG utilization up to 95 per cent by 2012. Operation of compressor stations makes it possible to additionally provide consumers with APG in the amount of up to 500 million cubic meters per annum and to find ways of application for this kind of fuel.

Alexander Ananenkov held a meeting on hydrocarbons production build-up and the systems for their transmission in the Nadym-Pur-Taz region.

Taking part in the meeting were Yaroslav Golko, Member of the Management Committee – Head of the Investment and Construction Department, heads and experts from the specialized subdivisions of the Gazprom Administration, Gazprom dobycha Yamburg, Gazprom bureniye, Gazprom komplektatsiya, Yamalgazinvest, as well as engineering companies and contracting agencies.

The meeting participants considered the issues relevant to further development of the Cenomanian deposits, bringing onstream the Valanzhin deposits of the Zapolyarnoye oil and gas condensate field, construction of the condensate trunklines and development of the gas transmission system. In particular, the meeting was informed on the progress with drilling additional wells and constructing two CGTUs. The projects implementation will allow increasing natural gas production from the field by 30 billion cubic meters and gas condensate – to 3 million tons per annum. The meeting also addressed broader pre-development of the Kharvutinskaya area of the Yamburg field.

Based on the meeting results the specialized subdivisions of the Gazprom Administration, the Company’s subsidiaries and contracting agencies were entrusted with the appropriate tasks.

Background:

Based on the geological exploration results, productivity of the Achimov deposits is confirmed for a vast area of the Nadym-Pur-Taz region. The bulk of recoverable hydrocarbon reserves of the regional Achimov deposits are concentrated in the Urengoy oil, gas and condensate field, with Gazprom dobycha Urengoy (Gazprom’s 100 per cent subsidiary) being the subsurface user. The fields of Gazprom dobycha Urengoy alone contain the Achimov reserves in the amount of more than 1 trillion cubic meters of gas and 200 million tons of gas condensate (C1 category).

The hydrocarbon-bearing Achimov deposits lie at depths of almost 4,000 meters (Cenomanian deposits – at 1,100–1,700 meters, Valanzhin deposits – at 1,700–3,200 meters) at abnormally high formation pressure (over 600 Ata) and contain heavy paraffins. CGTU-22 at the second pilot area of the Urengoy oil and gas condensate field, the Achimov deposits, was commissioned in October 2009. The expected gas production level upon bringing the CGTU to the projected capacity will average 3.5 billion cubic meters per annum.

Gazprom is also developing the Achimov deposits through Achimgaz, a joint venture with Wintershall Holding AG. Since July 2008, the joint venture has been conducting pilot production from block 1A of the Achimov deposits in the Urengoy oil and gas condensate field.

At present, Gazprom Group is implementing the program for APG utilization. The projected APG utilization level will reach 60 per cent in 2009, 70–75 per cent – in 2010, 80 per cent – in 2011 and 95 per cent in 2012. In 2008 Gazprom Group produced 6.5 billion cubic meters of APG, of which 3.8 billion cubic meters were processed and delivered into the gas transmission system to supply consumers.

The Zapolyarnoye oil and gas condensate field is located in the southern part of the Taz District (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug). The field is one of the largest in Russia, as its reserves account for 3.2 trillion cubic meters. The first natural gas was produced from the Zapolyarnoye field in 2001, in 2004 the field was brought to its projected capacity – 100 billion cubic meters of gas per annum.