Yuri Korchagin field
Encyclopedia
The Yuri Korchagin field is an offshore oil field in the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n sector of the North Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...

. The field is located 180 kilometres (111.8 mi) from Astrakhan
Astrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...

 and 240 kilometres (149.1 mi) from Makhachkala
Makhachkala
-Twin towns/sister cities:Makhachkala is twinned with: Sfax, Tunisia Siping, China Spokane, United States Vladikavkaz, Russia Yalova, Turkey Ndola, Zambia-See also:*...

 at a sea depth of 11–13 m (36.1–42.7 ). The field is owned and operated by Lukoil–Nizhnevolzhskneft, a subsidiary of Lukoil
LUKoil
Lukoil/LUKoil ; ) is Russia's second largest oil company and its second largest producer of oil. In 2009, the company produced 97.615 million tons of oil; ....

. The contractor for drilling operations is a Moscow-based company BKE Shelf (Eurasia Drilling Company). The field is named after the former secretary of the company's board of directors.

Overview

Lukoil started geological survey of North Caspian Sea in 1995. Exploratory drilling started in 1999 by using Astra semi-submersible
Semi-submersible
A semi-submersible is a specialised marine vessel with good stability and seakeeping characteristics. The semi-submersible vessel design is commonly used in a number of specific offshore roles such as for offshore drilling rigs, safety vessels, oil production platforms and heavy lift cranes.The...

 jack-up rig. The field was discovered in 2000. Its development started in 2004. The first oil was extracted on 28 April 2010. The gross reserves are estimated to be 570 Moilbbl of oil equivalent. The expected peak production rate is 2.5 million tonnes of crude oil and 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

 per year.

Development

The development will have 30 wells, including 26 production wells, one gas-injection well and three water-injection wells. As of April 2010, one oil production well and one gas extraction well were operational. By mid 2010, a water injection well was added. The wells have been drilled horizontally and their radial placement enables in their simultaneous drilling. Control of drilling operations on the platform and field have been done since 2009 by Eurasia Drilling Company. A total of R34.4bn ($1.12bn) has been spent on field development between 2004 and 2009.

The main production facility is a fixed offshore ice-resistant platform IRP-1. It is 95.5 by with weigh of 25,655 tonne erupting 86.6 metres (284.1 ft) above sea level. The platform was built at the Astrakhansky Korabel shipyard in Astrakhan. The technological complex for LSP-1 was constructed by Stroytransgaz
Stroytransgaz
OAO Stroytransgaz is a Russian engineering construction company in the field of oil and gas industry. The company was founded in 1990. It was originally a subsidiary of Gazprom, but now controlled by Gennady Timchenko though his Volga Resources SICAV SIF SA fund.-Operations:The company is involved...

. The platform was towed to the field assembled in 2009. The IRP-2 platform is used for accommodation of the personnel. It is 41.5 by with weight of 1,340 tonnes. It is 38 by above sea level. The platform was constructed at Lukoil-Kaliningradmorneft factory and assembled at the Astrakhansky Korabel shipyard. Marine warranty services for the transportation and installation of platforms were provided by Crane Marine Contractor Limited and Noble Denton. Offshore installation works were done by J. Ray McDermott
J. Ray McDermott
McDermott International is an international engineering company specialized on marine solutions with operations in the Americas, Middle East, the Caspian Sea, and the Pacific Rim...

. IRP-1 and IRP-2 are connected by a 74.2 metres (243.4 ft) bridge. The offshore complex is supplied by power produced by using extracted gas.

Produced oil is transported to the floating storage unit 58 kilometres (36 mi) away via a 300 millimetres (11.8 in) subsea pipeline. The floating storage unit, built by Keppel Corporation
Keppel Corporation
The Keppel Group of Companies includes Keppel Offshore & Marine, Keppel Integrated Engineering, Keppel Energy, Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation and Keppel Land, among others....

 at the shipyard in Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

, is moored to a single-buoy mooring. Oil transported by shuttle tankers to Makhachkala where it fed to the Transneft
Transneft
Transneft is a Russian state-owned business responsible for the national oil pipelines. It was founded in 1993 and owns the largest oil pipeline system in the world, with a total network length of almost...

's pipeline system.
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