MOSCOW, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Russian independent natural gas producer Novatek said it started production at the Urengoyskoye field in the Yamalo-Nenets region.
"Novatek announced ... the initial launch of the Urengoyskoye field within the company's Olimpiysky license block, with the field's production capacity estimated at 35.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas per annum," it said in a statement Thursday.
The company, Russia's largest independent natural gas producer, said three of the four natural gas wells in the field are producing natural gas. The Urengoyskoye field has proved natural gas reserves of 741 billion cubic feet.
The field is situated in Russia's Far North semiautonomous Yamalo-Nenets region.
The Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Energy Department, said in its 2012 analysis of Russia the country is the world's largest exporter of natural gas with 7.2 trillion cubic feet exported that year.
