Friday, December 27, 2013

Case Study - Shakhpakhty Condensate Gas Field Karakalpakstan

Diagram: Hydrocarbon survey, exploration and production areas in Uzbekistan (Ustyurt region) Source: Gazprom website

Shakhpakhty Gas Field

Shakhpakhty is a gas condensate field located in Uzbekistan in the southeastern part of the Ustyurt Plateau within the Kungrad Region of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, and was discovered in 1962. Geological surveys carried out here before 1968 confirmed initial commercial gas reserves in the amount of 46.5 billion cubic metres.

Commercial production began at Shakhpakhty in 1974, comprising 2.5 billion cubic metres per year. In 1983, the Shakhpakhty booster compressor station began operation, but was stopped in February 2002 due to inadequate power for the required upstream gas supply pressure. At that time, the operating organisation decided to shut down production and the wells were preserved. During the initial production period, 36.5 billion cubic metres of gas were produced from the deposit, which was then approximately 78.5% of the initially confirmed reserves.

In early 2003 a feasibility study was prepared in for investment in the follow-up Shakhpakhty field development based on the production sharing agreement with subsequent construction of  a new UGS facility. The reconstruction and further development of Shakhpakhty was carried out under a Production Sharing Agreement signed in 2004 for a period of 15 years.

In May 2004 Gazprom zarubezhneftegaz and Gas Project Development Central Asia AG established Zarubezhneftegaz  – GPD Central Asia as the field operator to implement the PSA. Under the PSA terms and conditions the investor obtained licenses for the rights to use subsurface resources, to produce and sell gas.

In August 2004 the consortium commenced the operations on the re-entry of wells and natural gas production. The work included surface construction and development, production and distribution of raw materials and the construction of the corresponding infrastructures, gas purification and storage, performing environmental protection measures amongst other activities.

Concurrently with resuming natural gas production, the operator started upgrading of the Shakhpakhty gas field infrastructure to boost the capacity for gas collection, treatment and transmission from the field to the Shakhpakhty booster compressor station (BCS) and gas compressor station at Karakalpakia.The gas produced at Shakhpakhty after leaving the Karakalpakia compressor station to be sent through the Central Asia-Centre gas pipeline to consumers in the C.I.S and Europe

In 2006 the Shakhpakhty booster compressor station and preliminary gas treatment works and base camp were completed.  Between 2005 and 2008 several wells were overhauled with a view to expand the producing well stock and extend the well service life. In 2010 the operator received a license for developing three additional underlying productive formations.

Sources: http://www.gazprom.com/about/production/projects/deposits/uzbekistan/ and http://www.gazprom.com/about/production/projects/deposits/uzbekistan/

Oil and Gas Industry in Uzbekistan

The Oil and gas industry is one of the leading industries in Uzbekistan. About of 60 % of the country’s area has a potential for oil and gas exploitation. Currently there are some 211 hydrocarbon fields opened in the five oil and gas regions of Uzbekistan. Of which 108 – gas and gas condensate, 103 – oil and gas, oil-gas condensate and oil. Over 50 % of gas and oilfields are under development, 35 % are being prepared for the development, and on the others exploration is ongoing. Uzbekistan ranks the 8th place in the world’s leading producer of natural gas. Proved reserves of Natural Gas are 1.841 trillion cu.m. (1 January 2012 est.)

Note: proved reserves are those quantities of natural gas, which, by analysis of geological and engineering data, can be estimated with a high degree of confidence to be commercially recoverable from a given date forward, from known reservoirs and under current economic conditions.

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