Gazprom’s Arctic platform Prirazlomnaya opens new wells, boosts production

The Prirazlomnaya platform now produces 10,000 tons of oil every day, according to operator Gazprom Neft Shelf.

Since the project came into production late 2013, a total of 5 million tons have been extracted from the field. In the first six months of 2017, production amounted to 1.6 million tons, an increase of 79 percent compared with the same period in 2016.

Planned production volumes in 2017 amount to 2.6 million tons, the company says. The increase comes as several new wells are taken into production.

“This planned production growth leans on the introduction of new technology for building of wells,” says Andrey Patrushev, Gazprom Neft General Director on shelf development. The new technology, which has been introduced in the course of the last year, allows the company to open multiple wells at a lower cost, he adds.

The Prirazlomnaya is operated by Gazprom Neft Shelf, a subsidiary of Gazprom. It started production in December 2013. Two specially designed ice-breaking tankers, the Kirill Lavrov and the Mikhail Ulyanov bring the oil from the platform to the floating terminal tanker Umba in the Kola Bay.

The project applies a stationary, Arctic-class ice-resistant platform, the world’s first of its kind.

The Prirazlomnaya is located in the Pechora Sea, about 60 km from the Nenets coast.