Messoyakhaneftegaz, a joint venture between Gazprom Neft and Rosneft, has begun pre-commissioning works for an 84-kW-capacity gas-turbine power plant (GTPP) at the Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye field. Six gas-turbine engines, each with a capacity of 14 kW, have been adapted for use under Arctic conditions. While the initial commissioning of the plant is expected to be made using natural gas, with subsequent transfer to associated petroleum gas (APG).
The GTPP has been erected on permafrost. The building is sent on stilts (cement piles), with each of the six gas-turbine engines supported by foundations of super-strength poured concrete weighing more than 140 tonnes, protecting the structure from vibration and ensuring stability on longstanding permafrost.
The GTPP is expected to be commissioned in Q3 2016: on which basis, the Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye field is expected to be fully self-sufficient in electricity and power from the date of its launch.
Workplace and environmental safety are foremost on this project, with pre-commissioning works to include a range of tests to confirm system reliability.
The Messoyakha group of fields include the Vostochno- (Eastern) and Zapadno- (Western) Messoyakhskiy acreages. Licenses for both blocks are held by Messoyakhaneftegaz, jointly owned by Gazprom Neft and Rosneft, in which both have an equal controlling interest. Gazprom Neft is operator on the project.
The fields, which were first discovered in the 1980s, represent the northernmost discovered onshore deposits in Russia. The Messoyakha fields are located in the Gydan Peninsula, in the Tazovsky district of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, 340 kilometres north of Novy Urengoy, in Russia’s arctic zone — a region of considerably underdeveloped infrastructure.
