Alexey Miller: Start-up & commissioning at unique Kovyktinskoye field marking important milestone in Power of Siberia project
RELEASE
Release
Today, as planned, feeding of gas started at the Kovyktinskoye field in order to perform start-up & commissioning operations under load at the field's comprehensive gas treatment unit No. 2 (CGTU-2) and the section of the Power of Siberia gas trunkline between the Kovyktinskoye and Chayandinskoye fields.
Taking part in the event was Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee.
CGTU-2, which is among the top-priority infrastructure facilities of the Kovyktinskoye field, serves for the purification and dehydration of produced gas. After being treated to the required parameters, gas is fed into the gas trunkline. The start-up & commissioning operations involve testing of the process systems and equipment at the gas production site and the pipeline section in various operating modes.
“Power of Siberia is an unprecedented infrastructure project of the 21st century in Russia. As of today, the total length of the Power of Siberia trunkline has increased to 3,000 kilometers.
The commencement of start-up & commissioning operations at Kovyktinskoye marks an important milestone in implementing the Power of Siberia project, as well as in creating the new gas production centers in the east of Russia. The unique Kovyktinskoye field, together with the Chayandinskoye field in Yakutia, serves as the key resource base for expanding gas supplies in eastern Russia and for exporting Russian gas via Power of Siberia.
In December this year, after the start-up & commissioning activities are completed, the Kovyktinskoye field and the new gas transmission capacities will be put into operation. Thus, a gas production and transmission complex of an immense capacity will be created in Eastern Siberia and Russia's Far East, providing an impetus to more efficient economic development of eastern Russia and increase of supplies to consumers abroad, namely, to China,” said Alexey Miller.
Background
The state-run Development Program for an integrated gas production, transportation and supply system in Eastern Siberia and the Far East, taking into account potential gas exports to China and other Asia-Pacific countries (Eastern Gas Program), was adopted in September 2007. Gazprom was appointed by the Government of the Russian Federation as the Program coordinator.
The Kovyktinskoye field serves as the basis for the creation of the Irkutsk gas production center and, together with the Chayandinskoye field in Yakutia, forms the resource base for the Power of Siberia gas pipeline. Both fields are unique in terms of the amount of their reserves.
The Kovyktinskoye gas and condensate field is the largest one in eastern Russia, with the design recoverable gas reserves of 1.8 trillion cubic meters and gas condensate reserves of 65.7 million tons. The field has the annual design output of 27 billion cubic meters of gas.
Power of Siberia is the largest gas transmission system in Russia's East. It serves to deliver gas from the Irkutsk and Yakutia gas production centers to consumers in eastern Russia and to carry out gas exports to China.