Prirazlomnaya ‘zero emission’ system launched
Gazprom’s Arctic oil drilling rig Prirazlomnaya in the Pechora Sea has commissioned its first reinjection well.
Consistent with the field development plan, the well will be used for reinjection of waste materials produced during well construction.
Prirazlomnoye is the world’s first project involving oil extraction on the Arctic shelf using a stationary platform. Production started in December 2013, and the first shipment of oil left in April 2014.
Field reserves are estimated to about 72 million tons of oil and peak production of five million tons is planned for about 2020.
Injection will take place into strata above the production horizon, ensuring its protection from higher and underlying layers. The absorption well will optimize the recycling of industrial wastes, which will now be utilized directly at the field with no negative environmental impacts, the company’s website reads.
“The absorption well significantly improves the security, manageability and cost-effectiveness of the project. Making possible the direct recycling of waste directly on the platform, with no impact on the environment, is its main purpose. Added to which, we are reducing costs by transporting waste onshore,” said Gennady Lubin, executive director of Gazprom Neft Shelf.
A “zero emissions” system has been integrated into the platform to prevent the discharge of any production or drilling waste into the sea, with waste, instead, re-injected directly into the strata, or transported onshore for recycling.
Two production wells are currently in operation at the field, together with the injection well. The project envisages the commissioning of a total 32 wells.
The platform in the Pechora Sea in 2015 produced more than 800,000 tons of oil. The total amount shipped from the field since start of production in December 2013 is more than one million barrels.
The field platform received the world’s attention in September 2013, when two journalists and 28 activists from Greenpeace, later dubbed “the Arctic 30”, were arrested and imprisoned in Murmansk for over two months, following a protest against Arctic drilling.
