Nornickel enhances gas supply reliability in the Norilsk Industrial District

Norilskgazprom, a Nornickel subsidiary, has commenced drilling new wells at the Pelyatkinskoye field for the first time in ten years. This large-scale project is a key component of Nornickel's Fuel and Energy Development Strategy. It aims to enhance the reliability of the energy system and ensure that Norilsk and the Company's facilities have sufficient gas supplies. The Company's investment in the project stands at approximately RUB 10 billion.

The project is running at the Pelyatkinskoye gas condensate field, located 170 km north-west of Dudinka in the Taimyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky Municipal District, Krasnoyarsk Territory. The field accounts for 80% of the natural gas produced in Taimyr, with 41 production wells currently in operation. Five new wells with a total capacity of about 2 mcm of gas per day will be drilled as part of the project. They will be brought on-stream in 2026.

"The new wells will maintain the required gas production volumes and compensate for declining output. Nornickel's demand is quite stable, and gas consumption in the Norilsk Industrial District is expected to rise over the next five years," said Evgeny Fyodorov, Nornickel Vice President for Energy.

Gazprom Shelfproject, a drilling contractor, has been engaged to implement the project. All the necessary equipment and special machinery, with a total weight of about 10 kt, have already been delivered by the contractor to the site. Between April and June this year, Gazprom Shelfproject installed auxiliary equipment and a Russian-made drilling rig. The rig looks like a factory on wheels or a drilling train, The bases of all the units are mounted on wheels, enabling the machine to move from one well to another along the guide rails like a train. The rig moves from a drilled well to a new location fully assembled, with drill pipes. It weighs about 1,200 t, and it is as high as a 20-storey building.

The Pelyatkinskoye field has a complex geology, meaning that each well will have its own individual design. Of the five wells, three will be directional and two will be horizontal wells. To achieve robust gas flows, the horizontal wells will beat records in terms of horizontal length among other wells in the Pelyatkinskoye field, exceeding 500 m.

Drilling of the first directional well is now underway, with a design depth of 2,721 m. The automated drilling rig control system helps monitor and analyse equipment operation, employee actions, and process conformity in real time.

The first three wells are expected to be drilled by the end of 2024, with the remaining two wells to follow suit in the first half of 2025. In the same year, we will take steps to connect the wells to the existing infrastructure of the Pelyatkinskoye field for further treatment and transportation of natural gas: well tie-in, construction of racks and service platforms, and laying of pipelines from the well to the entry point to the existing reservoir.

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