News archive for August, 2013
According to ITAR-TASS, Irkutsk Oil Company (INK) is considering the construction of a gas-chemical complex with its own electric power generation near the city of Ust-Kut in the Irkutsk Region. The project with a preliminary investment assessment of 110-120 billion roubles (€2.5bn) has been considered at a meeting of the government of the region.
INK was established in 2000 by uniting several small oil and gas producers operating in East Siberia. INK currently operates 19 oil and gas fields and blocks, including the largest one – Yarakta field, accounting for over 80 percent of the company’s total production. INK focuses mainly on the exploration and production of crude oil, condensate and natural gas; however, it is also engaged in the implementation of gas reinjection project and studies other opportunities of gas utilisation. Most of the company’s assets are located in proximity to the ESPO pipeline.
INK Director General Marina Sedykh said that the project is currently at the feasibility study stage. “It includes the construction of infrastructure for the production and processing of associated petroleum and natural gas for the extraction of ethane, propane, butane and condensate, ensuring utilisation of the currently unclaimed gas through the cycling process (gas re-injection into the reservoir, INK is the only company using this technology in Russia), the construction of gas and product pipelines with a total length of 500 km,” said the head of the company.
INK intends to start the development of gas reserves of the northern oil and gas fields – Yarakta, Markovo, West Ayan. The construction of the first plant for the processing of associated petroleum and natural gas with the capacity of 1.26 billion cubic metres per year has already been launched. The total volume of gas processing after the commissioning of the unit on the Markovo field in 2016 and two more units in Yarakta in 2017 will amount to 7 billion cubic metres per year. According to the INK materials, the units will make it possible to extract from the processed gas up to 96 percent of the valuable components – propane, ethane and butane.
The gas-chemical complex in Ust-Kut is expected to produce up to 500 thousand tonnes of polyethylene per year. The implementation of the project in general will create in the north of the region 450 new high-skilled jobs. The main investment volume will be required within six years from the start of the project.