Vankor field: development history, description, oil and gas reserves

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Vankorskoye oil and gas field is the largest black gold deposit explored recently in the Russian Federation. Oil and gas today are the most valuable resources for human civilization. Nature has generously rewarded our country with these riches. Russia ranks eighth in the world in terms of proven oil reserves, with more than 2,000 deposits on its territory.

Territorial location

A fairly large part of Russia's mineral reserves are located in remote areas with a very harsh climate. The location of the Vankor field is the Krasnoyarsk Territory, its northernmost part. More than 140 kilometers separate it from the nearest city of Igarka. Part of the deposit is located on the territory of the Turukhansk region, where I. Stalin once served his exile, and part of it is located on the territory of the Taimyr Dolgano-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

Here is the camp of Vankor, which can be reached by winter road (a road laid straight through the snow) from December to May or by air, but onlyby helicopter. In addition to Igarka, there is a connection with the cities of Tarko-Sale and Novy Urengoy.

The distance from Krasnoyarsk to the Vankor field is 1,400 kilometers. You can get from the administrative center of the region to the place, having previously flown by plane from Krasnoyarsk to Igarka.

Oil and gas reserves

The amount of oil and gas condensate that the Vankor field can produce was estimated at 500 million tons, according to 2016 data, and the quality of the extracted raw materials, according to Rosneft representatives, is not inferior to that of some Persian Gulf countries. The explored volume of gas is also impressive - 182 billion cubic meters.

At present, Vankor continues to expand: exploration and construction of new wells is underway, so it is possible that the figures given are not final.

Discovery history

Vankor is a relatively young field, but it is the largest discovered in the last 25 years.

The official history of the development of the Vankor field began on April 22, 1988, when it was discovered by the Yeniseineftegazgeologia expedition. However, in reality, this could have happened more than 15 years earlier - back in 1972, the Taimyr geophysical expedition recommended starting deep drilling at the site of the future Vankor and several neighboring fields, but this never happened.

At that time, the exploration leadership was sure that there could be no oil in those places, so they didn’t even look for it there. Having drilled severalwells and having discovered gas, geologists decided that a gas field had been discovered. This was reported "upstairs", and the wells were mothballed. It was decided to move the search for oil to the east, to Evenkia, since the Kuyumbinskoye field had been discovered there shortly before.

In fact, all the oil in the Turukhansk region (including the Vankor field) owes its discovery to a defective pipe. In 1984, when one of the wells needed to be reactivated, the workers discovered that it was filled with oil. As it turned out, one of the casing pipes cracked right in the place where the oil layer passed.

After this incident, exploration work was finally started, in the following years Vankor and several other large deposits located in the neighborhood were discovered.

Struggle for the deposit

The first license to develop Vankor was obtained by Yeniseineft in 1993. Then the companies Total and Shell became interested in the project, but did not participate in it. In 2001, the notorious Yukos company became a partial owner of Yeniseineft, planning to attract Chinese investors to the development, and then Rosneft joined in.

On the basis of the struggle for the Vankor field, a conflict occurred between the companies with the involvement of the prosecutor's office. At first, Mikhail Khodorkovsky's company won, gaining control of Yeniseineft in 2004. But at that time, Yukos had already begun to have serious problems with tax and law enforcementauthorities, as a result of which the oil giant was declared bankrupt.

Finally, in 2007, Rosneft took over Vankor. Initially, it was planned to start operation as early as 2008, but in the end, work was started on August 21, 2009. The opening ceremony was attended by Vladimir Putin, then the Prime Minister of Russia. At that time, 88 wells had already been drilled, half of which were operational.

Working conditions

Rivalry between oil companies and frequent change of owners, of course, did not add speed to the development of the field. However, nature itself played a significant role in the fact that Vankor was launched almost 30 years after its discovery, safely hiding its riches in permafrost.

The description of the Vankor field would be incomplete without mentioning the climatic conditions in which oilmen have to work. The fact that the population density in the district is less than 0.01 people per square kilometer - that is, one person per 100 km 2 - speaks about the "charms" of these places. To get a job, a candidate needs a separate medical certificate confirming the ability to work in the Far North.

Vankor is located beyond the Arctic Circle, the climate is sharply continental. This means that in winter frosts reach -60 ^oC, and in short summers it can be hot +35 ^oC. A temperature of -35 ^{oC in April is considered warm weather. Around - the endless tundra in the summer and the snowy plain in the rest of the time.}

Under such conditions, it is hard to work not only for people - the "ordinary" equipment here will also fail. For example, buses converted from KAMAZ trucks, with wheels 800 mm wide and 1.5 meters in diameter, are used as transport - this is the only way to move on the local snows.

How oilmen live

Unlike nature, which does not indulge Vankor oil workers, Rosneft is trying to create the best living conditions for its employees. Each worker works at the mine for a month, after which he returns home for the same period.

Residential complexes of oil workers consist of two-room blocks with a bathroom and a toilet in each. Cleaning is done daily. Dormitories are equipped with all amenities, heating and ventilation equipment, there is even a Russian bath, which is especially useful in such harsh climatic conditions.

The village has medical facilities, sports facilities, gyms and other necessary infrastructure to make workers feel at home here.

Development technologies

From the very beginning, the most modern technologies were used in the development of the Vankor field. For example, during construction, the method of thermal stabilization of the soil was used, and for penetration into the subsoil, the latest drilling equipment and special telemetry systems were used, which made it possible to constantly monitor the process.

Oil beforeentering the pipeline, it undergoes cleaning and pre-treatment, which improves its properties. Each well (of which there were 394 in 2015) is directly connected to a monitoring center that continuously monitors the operation of the field. Pleased to note that all this equipment is not imported. This condition was laid down at the design stage and fully justified itself.

After the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions in connection with the Ukrainian events, among other things, the supply of equipment related to oil and gas production was also banned. According to the West, this should have de alt a significant blow to the economy of the country, in which hydrocarbon production plays an important role.

But Russia turned out to be ready for this - the Vankor field is kept in line with the modern policy of import substitution. About 90% of the equipment involved in the operation of the field is domestically produced.

Therefore, contrary to the hopes of the Western neighbors, Vankor continues to develop, production volumes are growing, as well as the number of jobs.

Care for the environment

The field development project from the very beginning provided for complete safety of production for the environment. Special technologies were used to ensure the minimum amount of hazardous waste during the work.

Infrastructure construction was carried out in compliance with international environmental standards (ISO 14001), as well as occupational he alth and safety (OHSAS 18001). Vankor has a system for re-injection of waste into special undergroundcavities, and the process gas is burned by a flare system that neutralizes carcinogens by almost 100%.

Prospects

For the further development and development of the field, Rosneft attracts professionals from all over Russia, mainly from Bashkortostan, which has a rich tradition of black gold mining.

On the basis of the Vankorskoye field, Rosneft plans to create a large oil cluster by adding the Suzunskoye, Lodochnoye and Tagulskoye fields, which were at the disposal of the company after the acquisition of TNK-BP.

The total reserves of the future oil province are impressive - about 900 million tons, which is comparable to the mining potential of all of Norway. To deliver raw materials to the main oil transportation system, the Suzun-Vankor pipeline is being built. The management of the entire cluster will be centralized, the logistics system and infrastructure will also be unified.

The Vankor oil and gas field will benefit not only the Arctic, for the inhabitants of which a lot of jobs are created, but the whole country: many foreign investors follow the development of Vankor with interest and show interest in participating in the project.