Gazprom pulls back from Barents Sea

Russian gas company Gazprom has indicated that it would be “practically impossible” and “pointless” to proceed with its plans to conduct exploration drilling in the Barents Sea.

The company had planned to drill 12 exploration wells and conduct 12,000 km of 2D and 9,000 square km of 3D seismic mapping in the Barents Sea by year 2025.

The Independent Barents Observer quotes a Gazprom newsletter stating: “Considering the current situation, it is clear that drilling in the Barents Sea license areas will be part of a distant perspective.”

Gazprom controls a total of 33 offshore licenses, seven in the Barents Sea and 20 in the Kara Sea.

The company continues with its ambitions for the Yamal Peninsula. Yamal is among the most strategically important oil- and gas-bearing regions in Russia and Gazprom is building production capabilities at the region’s largest field, Bovanenkovskoye. By 2030, the annual gas production is expected to climb to 360 billion cubic meters.

In May, Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Chairman of Gazprom’s Management Committee, highlighted the company’s success in oil and gas production and exploration in 2015.

Last year, the company conducted geological exploration for oil and gas in European Russia, Eastern and Western Siberia, the Arctic and Far Eastern shelves as well as in Vietnam, Algeria, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

As a result, reserves estimates in Russia grew by 582 million tons of fuel equivalent, including 510.8 billion cubic meters of gas, 68.4 million tons of gas condensate and 2.8 million tons of oil.

source: maritime-executive.com