Russ Oil-Gas

02-06-2009 - BarentsObserver - Russian energy major Gazprom considers to build an oil refinery in the village of Teriberka on the Barents Sea coast. The refinery will handle oil from the Prirazlomnoe and Dolginskoe fields, general director of Gazprom-subsidiary Sevmorneftegaz confirms. Until now, the plan for the Prirazlomnoye field has been to deliver crude oil directly by tankers to Rotterdam. Gazprom subsidiary Sevmorneftegaz is revising the technical scheme for dev-elopment of the Prirazlomnoye field. We want to create that kind of systemic structure for oil production and refining, the company’s general director Aleksandr Mandel, said to Interfax after presenting the ideas at the Energy Exchange conference in Moscow on Thursday. It was also said the Prirazlomnoye infrastructure will be used to develop other fields in the area. Geological surveys and test-drilling shows that the eastern part of the Barents Sea is very promising for the petroleum industry. Mr. Mandel also said that the refinery is projected to have a capacity of five million tons, Portnews.ru reports with reference to Rbc.ru. The refinery is primarily to handle oil from the Prirazlomnoe and Dolginskoe fields in the Pechora Sea. Production start in the Prirazlomnoe project is planned for 2011 and annual peak production of 6,6 million tons is to be achieved six-seven years later. It is Sevmorneftegaz which controls the license to the field. However, the refinery is also to handle up to 600,000 tons of condensate per year from the Shtokman field, the company leader said. Teriberka is the place chosen by Gazprom to be the hub for activities in the Shtokman project. Pipelines will be laid to the site and a major LNG plant built. Mr. Mandel said that the refinery project feasibility study is to be completed by late 2009 or early 2010 and that the plant construction will need about 4-5 years. Mr. Mandel also said that oil from the Prirazlomnoe field in the first period will be exported unprocessed, but that that it later will be processed and exported with the help of the new Teriberka refinery. The Sevmorneftegaz leader maintained that Gazprom’s need for oil products amounts to 1,5 million tons, while the total consumption of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Oblast amount to four million tons.