Termokarstovoye field, Russia

In August 2022, TotalEnergies signed the final sale and purchase agreement to sell its stake in the Termokarstovoye field to NOVATEK.

Once the deal closes, NOVATEK will own a 100% stake in Terneftegas.

According to NOVATEK, the Termokarstovoye field’s peak capacity stands at around 2.4 billion cubic metres of natural gas and 0.8 million tonnes of de-ethanised gas condensate per annum.

Location and reserves

The Termokarstovoye field is situated in the Krasnoselkupsky district of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District (YaNAO) around 250km east of Tarko-Sale.

The development of the field faced an array of logistical challenges due to its remote location. Termokarstovoye can only be accessed by helicopter from the Tarko-Sale airport located 230km away, or by winter roads.

Terneftegaz also used barges to transport cargo for field development via the Taz River and then by the small river Khetyl-Ky that flows close to the field.

The gas and condensate field hosts multiple thin reservoirs which are located deep underground in Jurassic deposits.

Under the SEC standards as of 31 December 2016, the Russian field has natural gas proved reserves (SEC) of 14.7bcm and liquids proved reserves (SEC) of 4 million metric tonnes (mmt).

The project’s production capacity stands at around 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) including 6.6 million cubic metres of gas and 20 thousand barrels of condensate per day.

Infrastructure

The Termokarstovoye field’s infrastructure was developed considering the harsh Arctic climate.

It includes a gas gathering network, a gas treatment plant, a gas condensate de-ethanisation facility, and export pipelines.

The project’s two pipelines stretch approximately 200km.

The first pipeline is connected to existing Siberian gas export pipelines, while the second one transports the condensates to a NOVATEK processing plant located 230km away.

The export pipelines were built across the entire basin of the Taz River and its tributaries. The river crossings were constructed by directional drilling to prevent human-induced impact on river ecosystems.

Overall, a total of 22 gas condensate wells were drilled on four pads at Termokarstovoye.

In 2013, a 5,201m long well with a horizontal section of 2,083m was drilled at the field. The use of online navigation enabled the drilling of a well with a horizontal section more than 2,000m long.

The Termokarstovoye field’s production and treatment infrastructure feature turbo-expanders to facilitate the recovery of liquids from gas through a considerable temperature decrease.

Processing at Purovsky plant

The Purovsky Plant is used to process unstable gas condensate into stable gas condensate and natural gas liquids (NGL).

The launch of the Termokarstovoye field in 2015 enabled NOVATEK to fully utilise the processing capacities of our Purovsky plant.

The facility processed 12,820mt of de-ethanised gas condensate in 2021, up 8.8% compared to 2020 figures.

Contractors involved

In June 2005, NOVATEK and Rosneft signed a long-term cooperation agreement to develop the Termokarstovoye field and Kiynsko Chaselskiy licence area. The agreement entailed the development of the transport and downstream infrastructure of the two fields in the Krasnoselkupsky district.

The cooperation agreement also allowed NOVATEK to build pipelines from the Termokarstovoye field to the points of entry into Rosneft’s pipeline system at the Kiynsko Chaselskiy licence area.

Additionally, Rosneft was associated with the preparation, processing, and rail shipment of gas condensate produced at the field.