Operator Murmansk Project will likely be selected to develop the Murmanskoye gas field, in line with the announcement made by Russian officials at the 11th International Conference and Exhibition for Oil and Gas Resources Development of the Russian Arctic and the Continental Shelf. The event was organized in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Murmanskoye gas field, which is offshore in the Barents Sea approximately 200 kilometers away from the Kola Peninsula, has been estimated to contain gas reserves of 120 billion cubic meters, which is equivalent to four trillion 240 billion cubic feet. The gas reserves discovered in the Barents Sea are comparable to those found at Shtokman.

Rosneft and ExxonMobil will pick engineering firm for Far East processing facility

Rosneft and ExxonMobil, the two biggest oil companies from Russia and the U.S., have teamed up for developing a new project for liquefying natural gas in the Russian Far East. The companies attracted CB&I UK Limited engineering, a procurement and construction company, as well as Foster Wheeler Energy Limited. Foster Wheeler Energy Limited is a subsidiary of another entity named Foster Wheeler AG, a leader in front end engineering design.

The deadline for finalizing the new project has been set in 2014. Entire front end engineering design documentation, including plans of the buildings and the pipelines, as well as engineering studies and the environmental impact analysis for the LNG facility, must be completed before 2015.

CB&I UK and Foster Wheeler Energy will be allowed a chance to develop their own concepts of the project, and each of them will be responsible for specifying the target size of the liquefied natural gas plant. The concept of the entire project, including the scope of the technologies for gas liquefaction involved and the methods of construction require final approval. After all details get finalized, it will be up to Rosneft and ExxonMobil to make the final decision as to who will execute the project at the stage of front-end engineering design.

The volume of the plant’s production will amount to five million tons of processed natural gas per year. This amount may increase in the future if demand rises. The raw natural gas will be supplied by Rosneft and ExxonMobil from reserves in the Far East and the Sakhalin regions.

Commenting on the LNG project, Rosneft’s president Igor Sechin said “We are pleased with the technical progress of our joint team of experts from Rosneft and ExxonMobil. With our initial front end engineering design contractors on board, now we will see the project begin to take shape in a matter of months. We are taking a determined approach with this project to help monetize Russia’s gas resources.”

In his remarks, Glenn Waller, president of ExxonMobil Russia noted “We look forward to working with Rosneft and our initial contractors on further evaluation of specific technical and commercial aspects of a potential LNG project. Special attention will be given during the design phase to reducing the environmental impact on the unique ecosystem of the area and to developing local infrastructure.”