Gazprom/Wintershall/OMV JV aims to maintain Yuzhno-Russkoye gas output plateau

London — A joint venture between Russia's Gazprom, Germany's Wintershall Dea and Austria's OMV plans to drill more than 120 wells at the Yuzhno-Russkoye gas field in Russia in a bid to maintain plateau production, Wintershall Dea said Thursday.

Yuzhno-Russkoye -- located in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region of northern Russia -- produces around 25 Bcm/year of gas and is a key contributor to the 55 Bcm/year capacity Nord Stream gas pipeline to Germany.

The joint venture, Severneftegazprom, began production at the field in 2007 ahead of the startup of Nord Stream in 2011.

It achieved plateau production in 2009 and began testing the hard-to-recover reserves of the complex, deeper Turonian formation in 2011.

"Over 120 new wells will be drilled in the Yuzhno-Russkoye license area between 2020 and 2033 as part of the production start-up from the Turonian formation, with the aim to maintain the plateau production at the field," Wintershall Dea said in a statement.

Wells have also been drilled in the Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic strata, which are up to 4,000 metres deep, despite the "enormous" technical challenges of the deeper rock strata.

Gazprom owns 40% of Severneftegazprom, with Wintershall Dea holding 35% and OMV 25%.

Gazprom has gradually been shifting its upstream focus northward as its traditional production center in West Siberia continues to deplete.

Last year, it began the full-scale development of Kharasavey on the Yamal peninsula, which is closer to what Gazprom hopes will become its main 110 Bcm/year export corridor to Europe -- the existing 55 Bcm/year Nord Stream and the planned 55 Bcm/year Nord Stream 2 pipeline routes to Germany.

The company has said that sourcing gas on the Yamal peninsula to feed the Nord Stream corridor will be significantly cheaper than having to use the Ukraine transit route to send that gas to European markets.