Gazprom ready to partner African countries on gas technology, infrastructure – Official
Gazprom, Russia’s energy company, has expressed its readiness to partner with African countries on gas infrastructure and technology.
Mr. Dimitry Stratov,Deputy Director-General,Prospective Development, Gazprom, Dobycha Nadym, said this while briefing some African journalists and experts on Wednesday, shortly before a tour of the company’s facilities.
Stratov said the company would not apply for a licence but was willing to enter into partnerships with African countries to develop gas infrastructure.
Gazprom, a state-owned energy corporation with sales of over 120 billion dollars, is ranked as the largest natural gas company in the world and the largest company in Russia by revenue.
Stratov said Gazprom was established in1971 by the order of the Russian Ministry of Gas Industry No. 116 with 14 branches.
In his presentation on the “Gas Heart of the Arctic,” he dwelt on the company’s gas production in Bovanenkovskoye oil, gas, and condensate facilities, which he said comprised 18 fields, accounting for 20.4 trillion cubic metres of gas and one billion tonnes of gas condensate and oil.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)reports that the journalists and experts were conducted around the Bovanenkovskoye field by Stratov and other officials of the company.
The Bovanenkovskoye field is located in the Northwestern part of the Yamal Peninsula, beyond the Arctic Circle, and spans 1,780 square kilometres.
The field has an airstrip, motorable roads, power plants, a gym centre, shift camps, industrial facilities, a medical complex, an Orthodox church, and sport facilities.
It has about 1,500 employees with rotational work models.
The initial reserves of the field, which rank among the top ten largest fields in the world, are estimated at 4.9 trillion cubic metres of gas.
The field has three gas production facilities, a total of 700 operational wells, and 12 booster compressor stations for ensuring the required gas pressure level before being fed into the gas transmission system.
Stratov said the active construction phase of the field began in 2008, followed by the commissioning of three gas production sites in 2012, 2014, and 2018, respectively.
He said the oil, gas, and condensate fields would continue gas production until 2128.
The field also has two gas treatment and control stations and conditioning units with the capacity to process 40 billion and 60 billion cubic metres of gas per year.
Speaking with journalists, Alessandra Isaev, Gas Conditioning Master, Gazprom, said all technological processes were controlled and automated in the control room, including the separation of gas from underground water and mechanical impurities.
The journalists were also exposed to how gas is transferred from the well cluster to the processing and separation units, the centre compressor, the pumping system powered by a 16 megawatt aeroplane engine, and the adjustment of gas pressure.
The journalists, who also visited some infrastructure and social facilities, were issued certificates for crossing the Arctic Circle.
