Urengoy Gas and Condensate Field Development, Russia

The Urengoy (Urengoyskoye) field located in the West Siberian Basin is Russia’s biggest and one of the world’s biggest onshore gas and condensate fields by recoverable reserves.

The total geological reserves of the field are estimated to be 16 trillion cubic metres (tcm) of natural gas.

Discovered in June 1966, the Urengoy field commenced gas production in 1978, while the commercial oil production began in 1987.

The current field development plan is focussed on taping gas and condensate resources from the deeper, geologically-complex Achimov Formation, which is located approximately 4,000m-deep beneath the surface.

The Achimov deposits of the Urengoy gas and condensate field are planned to be developed through five production blocks of which two blocks (1A and 2A) are already producing.

The Urengoy gas field is expected to produce up to 36.8 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year after the five blocks reach their full capacity.

Development partners

The Achimov block 1A of the Urengoy field which has been in commercial production since December 2011, is developed and operated by Achimgaz, a 50:50 joint venture between Gazprom’s wholly-owned subsidiary Gazprom Dobycha Urengoy and Wintershall Dea.

The block achieved the annual plateau production capacity of ten billion cubic metres of natural gas through a total of 108 production wells in October 2019.

Block 2A that commenced pilot production in 2009 is being independently developed by Gazprom and it is expected to produce 8.7bcm of gas a year at full capacity.

Gazpromneft-Zapolyarye, a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, started the project development of Block 3A of the Urengoy field in May 2020, while blocks 4A and 5A of the Achimov deposits in the Urengoyskoye field are being prepared for development by Gazprom.

Gazprom will hold a 50% interest in 4A and 5A blocks, while Wintershall and OMV Norge will respectively hold 25.01% and 24.98% stakes in these blocks.

Urengoy field location

The Urengoy field is located near Novy Urengoy, in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, approximately 3,500km east of Moscow. The field stretches for more than 230km from north to south with its width ranging from 30km to 60km.

The onshore field encompasses a total area of approximately 6,000km², most of which is situated beyond the Arctic Circle.

Block 1А is located in the south-eastern part of the Urengoy field and spans more than 280km².

Urengoy field geology

The Urengoy field contains three main hydrocarbon horizons namely, Cenomanian, Valanginian and Achimov.

The Cenomanian deposits are located below the Turonian deposits at a depth of 1,000m to 1,700m. It mainly consists of methane, which is the most easily extractable gas at minimum processing expenses.

The wells with lesser depth and larger diameter tubing are used for the development of Cenomanian deposits compared to the Valanginian deposits.

Formed during the Neocomian period, the Valanginian deposits lie at depths ranging from 1,700m to 3,200m. They differ from the Cenomanian deposits due to a higher content of ethane, propane and gas condensate.

The gas from the Valanginian deposits contains heavy hydrocarbons, so has a higher gas hydrate formation point. The development of Valanginian deposits uses deeper wells and smaller diameter tubing compared to the Cenomanian deposits, and the gas flow-lines are designed to operate at a higher pressure.

The Achimov deposits are present at depths ranging from 3,500m to 4,000m with other gas-bearing beds present at a depth of more than 3,500m. The Achimov Formation is characterised by a more complex geological structure compared to the Cenomanian and Valanginian deposits. The sandstones have medium porosity and low permeability.

Due to the depletion of gas reserves in the Cenomanian and Valanginian deposits, the companies are exploring ways to develop deeper and more complex deposits for maintaining the field’s natural gas and gas condensate production rate.

Achimov Block 1A development details

The pilot production from Block 1A of the Achimov Formation at the Urengoy field was started in 2008, while the start of commercial production took place with the commissioning of three production wells in 2011.

A total of 42 producing wells were brought on-stream by 2015, while the last of the total 108 production wells were commissioned in October 2019.

Urengoyskoye Block 3A development plan

Gazpromneft-Zapolyarye planned to drill two gas-condensate production wells at Block 3A of the Urengoyskoye field targeting the deeper Achimov deposits in 2020.

The drilling of the initial two wells is intended for the analysis and the use of the obtained data to detect specific geological features of the Achimov deposits at Block 3A of the Urengoy field.

The Block 3A Achimov deposits of the field are planned to be developed through a total of 32 high-tech horizontal wells with the annual peak production of 5bcm of gas and up to 1.5 million tonnes of gas condensate expected to be achieved in 2024.

The second phase of the project will include the development of the Valanginian oil-rim deposits of the field.