The development of the Shtokman gas field

The Shtokman gas condensate field is considered to be the largest in the world. It is located in the Barents Sea, in the water area belonging to Russia.

General information about the territory

The Shtokman field is located on the shelf in the central zone of the East Barents Sea trough. It passes in the submeridional direction in the region of the western shores of Fr. New Earth. The deflection is a complex structure. This is due to the presence of deep depressions: the South and North Barents Sea and Nansen. They are divided by regional uplifts-saddles. The southern and northern parts are separated by a mega-delta. It includes the 3 largest shelf deposits - Ledovoye, Shtokmanovskoye and Ludlovsky. The last in terms of resources is considered large. The first two are considered unique.

Detection

The Shtokman field was discovered in 1981. At that time complex geophysical studies of the Barents-Kara basin were carried out. The work was carried out by the staff of Severomorneftegeofizika on the research vessel Pr-Shtokman. Hence the name of the site. The drilling of the Shtokman gas field began in 1983. The first wells were made from the vessel "Valentin Shashin" and "Victor Muravlenko". The depth of the first exploration well was 3153 m. Two deposits were discovered as a result of drilling.

Swimming pool characteristics

The Shtokman gas field is located 550 km from Murmansk (to the northeast). The nearest land is the west coast of Novaya Zemlya (300 km). The depth of the sea in this region is from 320 to 340 m. The Shtokman field reserves are about 3.94 trillion. M ³ . The condensate is present in the volume of 56.1 million tons. On the bottom surface complexes of modern soft and weak soils are revealed. Their capacity is up to 8 m. In addition, the underlying soft soils are widespread here, whose thickness is 4-24 m. According to experts, deflection of the surface during the operation of the basin in 15-25 years will lead to the formation in the central zone of the troughs, the depth of which is not Less than 10 m.

Development projects

For the exploration and development of the Shtokman field in 2002, a special enterprise was formed. It has a license to develop until 2018. This company was formed by Gazprom and Rosneft. The latter sold its share to the partner in 2004. Currently, Gazpromneft-Shelf operates in the territory. The project was implemented on the basis of an agreement on the division of products. At the initial stage, production was planned at 22 billion m ³ / year. Some of the resources were supposed to be spent on the production of liquefied gas. This product was intended for export to the United States. In with. Teriberka, located on the Kola Peninsula, was supposed to build a plant and a terminal. The management company intended to attract foreign investors to the Shtokman field. It was planned to transfer 49% of the pool shares to interested companies. By September 2005, a list was compiled, which included 5 foreign enterprises - potential participants in the consortium for the development of the territory. However, in early October 2006, Gazprom announced that none of them had provided the relevant assets. In this connection, the domestic company remained a subsoil user. However, in connection with the change in the plan for attracting foreign investors, it turned out that the Shtokman field was frozen for a long time. The situation was aggravated by the severe Arctic climate, considerable distance from the coastline. In addition, a greater depth of wells requires appropriate production and transportation technologies. Domestic company did not have such opportunities. According to forecasts, the necessary investment should be 15-20 billion dollars. In the event of a pool at full capacity, the production volume will be 67 billion m ³ / year.

New stage

In mid-July 2007, after a telephone conversation took place between Sarkozy and V. Putin, it was announced that the French corporation Total will become the new partner of the domestic monopolist of Gazprom. It was assumed that she would receive a 25% stake. The remaining 24% can go to another foreign partner. Experts believe that this decision was due to a sharp improvement in the relationship between Russia and France. 24% of the remaining shares are transferred to the company from Norway StatoilHydro.

Difficulties in work

To implement the projects created in 2008, Gazpromneft-Shelf was formed, 100% of which belong to Gazprom. The newly formed enterprise was appointed operator of the 1st and 2nd phases of the development of the territory. At the end of August 2012, Gazprom and its foreign partners agreed on a temporary suspension of the implementation of the plans. The reason for this decision was too high costs and emerging new projects for the production of shale raw materials. Since that moment, the search for options to improve the effectiveness of the plan began. In October 2012, the President of Russia said that it was intended to conclude an agreement on the project. Peskov said that construction will begin before the end of 2017. Since December 2012, the project has again been launched into the implementation. As of January 2013, it was planned to hold a competition to determine the designer of the future plant.

The economic aspect

The Shtokman field is considered to be very capital intensive. This greatly complicates, among other things, its development. In this regard, the main objectives of the project, together with the achievement of high rates of production, are:

1. Reduced investment load.
2. Guaranteed receipt of project indicators.
3. Introduction of the possibility to make adjustments to the arrangement during the operation started.

The solution of these problems is possible in the event that, according to experts, the Shtokman field will be developed gradually. In this regard, the adopted project for the development of the territory provides for a step-by-step increase in the equivalent capacity for the 3 components of the basin. Thus, three stages are distinguished. Each of them represents the launch of a new bundle: one platform - one thread of an underwater gas pipeline - three production lines at an LNG plant (or a land gas pipeline). After reaching the third stage, the output will begin to be included in the projected indicators. The profit received from the sale of products at each stage can be reinvested for subsequent development.

Specificity of marine fishery

This area of gas production by its volume of capital investments is today at the dominant position. Sea fishing accounts for about 48% of all investments in the development of the basin. Mass-size and other characteristics of this system have a huge impact on the level of projected gas and condensate production at the Shtokman field.

Equipment

The main technological element of the organization of marine fishing in this area is a semi-submerged ice-resistant platform. It is designed for simultaneous drilling and use of wells on the site of the estuaries. Possible options include platforms such as SPAR and TLP. At each site it is planned to install the entire complex of used drilling equipment, technological units for field preparation of produced gas. The latter is necessary to ensure single-phase transportation of raw materials along the main pipeline. The project level for production is achieved by installing three platforms in different parts of the Shtokman field. Each of them is fed with 3 well systems. The project assumes a uniform distribution over the entire area of the field. Each platform communicates with the shore facilities through a single trunk pipeline. To ensure reliability and prevent failures in the operation of the entire system, all areas are connected by additional gas pipelines.

Conclusion

Investigation of the Shtokman field requires, undoubtedly, large funds. However, its development will yield significant amounts of raw materials annually. The deposit is located in a rather unfavorable zone. The task of the project is to optimize expenses. Gradual development of the field will solve many problems, get the necessary funds for reinvestment. Of great importance, however, are the resources of foreign partners.