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Gazprom Neft taps second well in arctic waters

Oil arm of Russian energy company Gazprom marks new phase at Prirazlomnoye field.

By Daniel J. Graeber
Russian oil company Gazprom Neft said it started work at its second well in a field located in arctic waters. Photo courtesy of Gazprom Neft.
Russian oil company Gazprom Neft said it started work at its second well in a field located in arctic waters. Photo courtesy of Gazprom Neft.

MOSCOW, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- With a second well now in service at the arctic Prirazlomnoye field, Russian energy company Gazprom Neft said production is expected to double from 2014 rates.

The company said production from the second well at the oil field in the Pechora Sea should total around 13,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The launch, the company said, should eventually lead to the doubling of the 2014 level from the field, which stood at 2.2 million barrels.

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Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia's Gazprom, reached a milestone with the production of its 1 millionth barrel of oil from the arctic Prirazlomnoye field in September. The company said in its latest statement it expects a total of 36 wells at the field.

Greenpeace advocates, dubbed the Arctic 30, scaled a rig in 2013 set for work in the arctic field to raise awareness about the risks of an oil spill in the harsh northern environment.

Gazprom Neft said a stationary rig at the site is designed specifically to ensure the risks of a spill are minimized to the greatest extent possible. Production, the company said, is planned around what it described as stringent environmental safeguard. All wells are drilled within the platform itself, which the company said acts as a buffer against any release in the open sea.

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"Ensuring environmental safety and the uninterrupted operation of our technical installations is the single most important objective for Gazprom Neft in the fulfillment of our projects under the harsh climatic conditions of the arctic," Andrey Patrushev, the company's executive in charge of regional developments, said in a statement.

Prirazlomnoye is the first ever project ever brought into production in Russian arctic waters. Commercial production started in 2013.

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