Gazprom and BASF to co-operate on exploration projects

Gazprom and BASF have signed a memorandum, which foresees possible development on a parity basis of two additional sites of the Achimov deposits of the Urengoy field; Gazprom will receive equivalent stakes in Wintershall’s exploration and production projects in the North Sea.

“Constructive partnership between Gazprom and Wintershall allows us to embark on projects most ambitious from the technological point of view. Together with our German colleagues, we are ready to expand gas production at Achimov deposits of the Urengoy field, and also co-operate in Wintershall’s production projects for a common benefit”, said Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Gazprom.

Past co-operation

The two companies are already in partnership with ZAO Achimgaz, a joint venture of OAO Gazprom (50 %) and the wholly owned BASF subsidiary Wintershall (50 %), which produces natural gas and condensate in Novy Urengoy, which lies about 3500 km north-east of Moscow, from Block 1A of the Achimov horizon.

Achimgaz plans to produce up to 200 billion m³ of natural gas and 40 million t of condensate from the deposit over a period of more than 40 years. The joint venture aims to produce up to 8 billion m3/yr of natural gas during the plateau phase. Achimgaz is currently producing around 3.5 million m³ of gas and 1600 t of condensate daily from six pilot wells in a subsection of the Achimov horizon in the Urengoy field.

The natural gas field Yuzhno Russkoye is the second major natural gas production project between Gazprom and the BASF subsidiary in Siberia. This natural gas deposit was already commissioned in 2007. Wintershall has a 35% share in the commercial success of the field via OAO Severneftegazprom. The field already reached plateau production of 25 billion m³ of natural gas per year in the middle of 2009. All 142 production wells are in operation. Around 75 million m³ of natural gas are produced there every day. The Yuzhno Russkoye field has recoverable reserves of more than 600 billion m³ of natural gas.

Nord Stream

One of the routes the Russian gas will take will be through the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea, which has been under construction since April 2010. This pipeline connects the Siberian gas reserves at a length of 1220 km with two parallel legs directly with Germany. Over 1000 km of the first pipeline leg have already been laid. The first leg of the pipeline is scheduled to come onstream in October 2011.

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