Using a subsea production facility, OAO Gazprom has started production of natural gas at the Kirinskoye gas-condensate field in the Sakhalin region (OGJ Online, Apr. 26, 2013).
Gazprom said it is the first time a subsea production facility has been constructed to develop a field in the Russian continental shelf.
The subsea system is at a depth of 90 m in the Sea of Okhotsk, 28 km offshore. Gas from a single production well is conveyed via subsea pipeline to an onshore processing facility. After treatment, it is transferred via a 139-km pipeline to the main compressor station of the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas transmission system.
Gazprom said the subsea production facility makes it possible to produce hydrocarbons in severe climatic conditions, even under ice, with no platforms or other above-water facilities.
Gazprom’s Polyarnaya semisubmersible drilling rig was used for drilling in Kirinskoye field. Six more wells are planned. Gas production is expected to reach 5.5 billion cu m/year.
Gazprom operates three blocks in the Sakhalin III project: Kirinsky, Ayashsky, and Vostochno-Odoptinsky.
