Gazprom Neft Completes First Shipment

Gazprom Neft completed the first offshore oil shipment from Novoportovskoe deposit on Yamal during the winter period.

The first batch of 16 thousand tonnes of crude oil was shipped to European customers from the Yamal Peninsula on a tanker escorted by the nuclear powered icebreaker “Taimyr”. The oil of Novy Port grade will be delivered to Europe in early March. Icebreaking support for Gazprom Neft (SIBN.ME) tankers along the Northern Sea Route is provided by Atomflot Company.

Alexander Dyukov, Chairman of the Management Board of Gazprom Neft, noted that offshore shipment of oil is of the utmost importance for further development of the company. “We propose to ship oil all year round and this winter shipment proves that it is possible. In addition, the sooner Novoportovskoe deposit reaches the full-scale commercial production stage, the earlier we start selling oil and the better the economic indicators of the large project will be. Thus, until May, we will ship about 50 thousand tonnes of oil”, he said.

According to Dmitry Kobylkin, Governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the winter shipment of oil is another fact demonstrating that the Northern Sea Route is reviving. “All the infrastructure projects, such as Northern Latitudinal Route and Sabetta Seaport as well as construction of Yamal LNG plant, contribute to the development of the Arctic route. The main thing is that the cargo traffic is growing. We understand that today it is more comfortable to sail in the European part but in 2017, when Yamal LNG plant and Sabetta Port start operating, traffic along the Northern Sea Route will become more active and the vector will change towards the Asia-Pacific Region. Sea routes in this area will be provided and “heated” by icebreakers, including new ones, Arktika class, which are now being built specifically for these projects at the Baltic Shipyard. Certainly, Ob Bay and Gyda Bay will become “hot sections” of the Northern Sea Route”, he said.

It is worth reminding that extractable C1 and C2 reserves of Novoportovskoe deposit total over 250 million tonnes of oil and condensate and 320 billion cubic meters of gas (including Paleozoic deposits). Production drilling program was launched at the deposit in summer 2014. Full-scale development of Novoportovskoe deposit will begin in 2016. In mid-August 2014, the company made the first shipment of oil from Novoportovskoe deposit. A tanker delivered crude oil along the Northern Sea Route to Europe as early as in September. The total of 100 thousand tonnes of oil was shipped during summer-autumn 2014.