Gazprom Neft’s oil shipments hit 20-million-ton mark through Russia’s Arctic waters

Oil from the Novy Port project is shipped out from a terminal installation in the Gulf of Ob. Gazprom Neft has shipped over 20 million tons of oil from the Prirazlomnaya and Novy Port projects in the Russian Arctic. (Gazprom Neft)
The infrastructure developed in the Russian Arctic will enable us to boost exports, Gazprom Neft says.

In less than five years, the Russian oil company has shipped out more than 20 million tons of oil produced in the Prirazlomnaya and Novy Port projects, in the Russian Arctic.

The latest shipment with Arctic oil is now on its way towards the company’s refinery in Serbia, a press release informs (in Russian).

And more is to come. In a meeting with regional authorities in the Yamal-Nenets region Monday, company Deputy General Director Vadim Yakovlev made clear that several new projects are underway and that Yamal, over the next 5-7 years, will become “the company’s key cluster”.

The company now extracts as much as 27 percent of its total production in Arctic projects, regional authorities say (in Russian).

Russia’s only offshore oil project

The Prirazlomnoye project was launched late 2013 and is still Russia’s only offshore oil project. In 2017, production amounted to 2.6 million tons, and in 2018, production is planned to increase to 3.6 million tons and in 2020 – 5 million tons.

The Prirazlomnoye is located in the Pechora Sea (southeast of the Barents Sea) and holds a total of 70 million tons of oil resources. Extracted oil is shipped by ice-class tankers to the Umba, a 300,000 ton tanker located in the Kola Bay, near the city center of Murmansk, in northwestern Russia. Since the Prirazlomnoye came into production in December 2013, a total of 5.9 million tons of oil have been shipped from the production site to Murmansk.

In 2014, Gazprom Neft started Arctic out-shipments also from Novy Port, the oil field located in the southern part of the Yamal Peninsula. The project out-shipment scheme includes an offshore terminal located in the Gulf of Ob near Cape Kamenny.

Since 2015, a fleet of specially-designed Arctic tankers have conducted year-round exports from the site and the volumes in 2017 amounted to 5.9 million tons. In 2018, production is set to increase to 7 million tons and in 2019 – 8 million tons.

Other projects

Gazprom Neft also operates the Eastern Messoyakha, the northernmost oil field on the Russian mainland. However, the oil from this field is pipelined through Transneft’s national oil pipeline grid.

The company also controls several more licenses in the area, among them to the Western Messoyakha and Tazovsky fields.

Related stories from around the North:

Canada: Ottawa signals it’s open to talks on offshore Arctic oil and gas development, Radio Canada International

Finland: Finland’s first silver mine to start production next year, Yle News

Norway: Drilling confirms major oil discovery for Lundin in Norway’s Arctic waters, The Independent Barents Observer

Russia: Russia’s Gazprom boosts Arctic gas production and infrastructure, aims foreign markets, The Independent Barents Observer

Sweden: Sweden reluctantly greenlights construction of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Radio Sweden

United States: US Gov preparing for oil exploration in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska Public Media

Atle Staalesen, The Independent Barents Observer

For more news from the Barents region visit The Independent Barents Observer.

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