Gazprom is looking for a developer of technical specifications to determine the feasibility of building underwater production complexes for gas fields in the Kara Sea, company materials show.
The company is inviting proposals for research work on the “development of technical requirements for the modules of underwater production complexes with capacity of up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year.”
The company is prepared to pay 59 million rubles (with VAT) for this work. Bids will be accepted until November 1 and the results of the tender are expected to be announced on November 15. The contract would have to be completed within two years.
Gazprom needs to develop technical specifications for modules of an underwater production system, separation, recovery, compression, distribution off hydrate inhibitor and power supply with capacity of up to 10 bcm for fields in the Kara Sea.
The research work will be used to develop preliminary designs for modules of underwater production complexes, which in turn will be used in the implementation of strategy for the application of underwater gas production technology in the Kara Sea.
Gazprom said that there is no world experience in the application of underwater production complexes with underwater product preparation technology in conditions where the navigation period is limited to 2-2.5 months, and there are no specifications in Russian practice for modules of underwater production complexes with capacity of 10 bcm per year.
Gazprom’s first experience with underwater production will be the Kirinskoye field off the coast of Sakhalin Island, which the company plans to launch by the end of October. The underwater complex for this field was ordered from Norway’s FMC Technologies. However, Kirinskoye will only have underwater production, while gas preparation and other processes will be carried out onshore.
Another offshore project that could be implemented with a completely underwater complex is the huge Shtokman field. The previous technological concept for the project called for underwater production, while product separation and preparation was to be carried out on a floating vessel the size of a football field that could be disconnected from the underwater complex and avoid icebergs if they were to approach. But this proposal was too costly and Gazprom began to study options for complete underwater development.
In addition to Gazprom, licenses to develop offshore resources in the Kara Sea are also held by oil major Rosneft, which plans to develop three blocks in partnership with ExxonMobil.
Gazprom holds licenses to 19 offshore blocks in the Kara, Barents, Okhotsk and Azov seas, where 17 hydrocarbon fields have been identified. The Kharasavei-More field is part of the Kara Sea shelf.
Gazprom received licenses to three blocks in the Kara Sea in 2013 and the government is expected to approve the company’s applications for another seven blocks.
