Gazprom Makes Kara Sea Discovery
Russia's Gazprom has made its fourth gas discovery in the Arctic Kara Sea in two years, the state gas supplier reported on October 8.
The company drilled a well at the Leningradskoye field off the coast of the Yamal peninsula, achieving a flow rate of around 600,000 m3/day of gas. The find "significantly increases the field's industrial value," Gazprom said.
Leningradskoye's recoverable reserves are currently estimated at 1.9 trillion m3, but will be reassessed in light of the new discovery, Gazprom said.
Gazprom has continued to drill on Russia's northern shelf over recent years, even though since the downturn in prices in 2014, most offshore Russian oil and gas is unfeasible to develop. It discovered the Dinkova and Nyarmeyskoye fields in 2019, assessed to hold 389.7bn and 120.8bn m3 of recoverable gas respectively. It found another field 75 Let Pobedy in May this year, thought to hold 202.4bn m3 of gas.
Russia's only offshore Arctic field to have entered production is Prirazlomnoye, an oil project operated by Gazprom Neft. The government has said it does not expect any new shelf projects to come on stream before 2030. One exception is Kamennomysskoye-more field, which Gazprom aims to launch in 2025. This field is in shallow waters in the Gulf of Ob, very near the shore and existing infrastructure.