No. 1, 2008

For seven decades now the specialists of the PechorNIPIneft research institute have taken part in the development of the Timan-Pechora oil- and gas-bearing province

The scientific research institute PechorNIPIneft started functioning on October 26, 1937, as a planning and surveying office which was later transformed into an institute and became the “brain center” of the nascent oil industry of the Republic of Komi. Subsequently, the practical development of the mineral production industry of entire Russia’s European North was associated with the activity of the institute which to this day continues carrying out its scientific mission in close cooperation with the oil producers.

Along the road of innovation

In the 1940-1960 period the specialists of the PechorNIPIneft institute took part in planning such important economic projects as the construction of Yarega oil wells in the Timan-Pechora region, of a refinery and metal works in Ukhta, as well as a heat-and-power plant there. They also developed the technology for obtaining micronex furnace black at local industrial enterprises.

The institute’s engineers have also participated in compiling the design documents for construction of the Zapadno-Tebukskoye, Pashninskoye, Usinskoye, Vozeyskoye, Kharyaginskoye and some other oil fields. And since most of the engineering problems in the Timan-Pechora region were unique, the institute’s specialists could only rely on themselves. Some of their solutions were truly sensational. For instance, they developed, for the first time ever, the technology of thermal bed stimulation for a Permo-Carboniferous pool of the Usinskoye field.

It is owing to the scientists of the PechorNIPIneft institute that the Timan-Pechora region has for many decades remained one of the most attractive hydrocarbons producing regions for the Russian fuel and energy complex.

Overcoming the difficulties

As a result of an irresponsible, predatory attitude toward the oil reserves of the region on the part of a number of companies in the 1990s, the local oil-producing complex, including KomiTEK, the region’s largest company at the time, was in a state of crisis. The situation became really desperate when the company’s consumption of fixed capital reached nearly 100% and the company stopped its drilling operations completely: some 600 km of its intra-field roads needed major repairs.

The situation began to improve only when LUKOIL appeared on the scene and during the first ten months invested two billion rubles in production. Eight drilling crews were quickly formed which reactivated 180 producing wells and brought the daily output to 1,570 tons.

As Viktor Shkandratov, the PechorNIPIneft Director, noted later: “LUKOIL’s coming to the Timan-Pechora region actually saved not only our institute but also the local extractive industry.” In 2001 a joint stock company, named LUKOIL-Komi, was set up on the basis of JSC KomiTEK.

Already in 2003 the new company’s oil output was twice as high as that of its ill-fated predecessor. In 2006 its output exceeded 11 million tons, which was 9.3% higher than the 2005 level. The regional budget was likewise augmented: the overall sum paid by the oilmen in taxes topped 40 billion rubles. The stability of the local fuel-and-energy complex opened up excellent prospects for some other sectors and for the development of the entire region.

The Timan-Pechora oil fields are characterized by a host of physicochemical factors, a complex geological structure and far-flung productive facilities. Oil production in subpolar Arctic areas presents considerable technological problems. The main of them are associated with oil itself, or rather with its four peculiarities there: its high viscosity, high level of gas content, the presence of a large number of aggressive components, and its high paraffin content. Oil production there is also complicated by such natural factors as permafrost and a long winter with very low temperatures.

Despite all that, the oil producers of LUKOIL-Komi continue developing successfully the fields of the Timan-Pechora province. The secret of their success is simple and lies in close cooperation with scientists. And so the PechorNIPIneft institute, based in Ukhta, soon became a subsidiary of LUKOIL-Komi. Having obtained reliable scientific support, the oilmen managed to turn the Timan-Pechora province into one of the largest resource bases in North-West Russia.

Efficient production technologies

Incidentally, in keeping with its strategic plans, LUKOIL intends to attain the peak of oil production in the Republic of Komi in 2008. In its plans the company stakes on increasing the yield of the oil pools. For instance, with the recoverable oil factor being 0.15, the recoverable reserves of the Permo-Carboniferous pool of the Usinskoye oil field total 110 million tons. However, with the assistance of scientists and the use of new efficient technologies the oil recovery efficiency may be brought up to 0.3. This means that the recoverable reserves of an open pool, which no longer requires huge capital investments, may be doubled.

Production technologies are being constantly renovated at the Yaregskoye field which has recoverable reserves totaling more than 100 million tons and which is the only one in the world to be developed by the oil-mine method. The scientists of the PechorNIPIneft institute have suggested one more efficient technological method of production: drilling horizontal wells in order to recover high-viscosity oil from the surface. That has made it possible to bring workers from under the ground, as well as to reduce the cost of production by two-thirds.

The specialists of the PechorNIPIneft institute were among the first in Russia to cope with the problem of recovering wax-bearing crude oil in the conditions of the mainland tundra and of constructing various oil-producing facilities and pipelines in the permafrost zone (for instance, at the Kharyaginskoye field). Various methods of slant angle directional drilling as well as structures and arrangements for subsurface pumping have been developed. The technology of thermal bed stimulation in the conditions of oil mining and surface production of high-viscosity oil have been put into practice at the Yaregskoye and Usinskoye fields. Elaborated have been the technology of transporting wax-bearing crude oil and methods of protecting equipment from corrosion. Extensive field research in permafrost surveying of promising production areas has been conducted.

Finally, the institute’s designers have elaborated a general concept for the construction of oil pipelines for collecting and transporting oil from the Nenets Autonomous Area, as well as for oil field construction at local deposits.

The PechorNIPIneft scientists have already carried out a number of specific projects for the reconstruction and rearrangement of the infrastructure of the oil fields in the Timan-Pechora province. Installations have been designed for the treatment of wax-bearing and high-viscosity brands of oil at the Kharyaginskoye and Usinskoye fields, as well as a system of oil treatment and transportation by LUKOIL-Komi, including modernizing installations for preliminary sewage disposal and increasing the throughput flow capacity of the Kharyaga-Usinsk, Tedinskoye-Ardalin and Yuzhnoye Shapkino-Kharyaga pipelines, as well as reconstructing the production bases and a shop for manufacturing heat-insulated pipes.

Owing to the fruitful cooperation with scientists, LUKOIL-Komi is successfully carrying out its plans and is active in pursuing promising objectives. Today, the company, which is the chief operator in the Timan-Pechora province, holds 59 licenses for the exploration, surveying and production of hydrocarbons and is developing 51 fields. It has a reserve of crude which will last it for more than 35 years.

In 2002 the institute was certified according to ISO 9001-2000, the international system of assessing the quality of management, and in 2006 it once again confirmed its high status.

There has been much talk lately about coal, bauxites and wood as alternatives for oil. However, it is oil that has been and remains the economic basis of the Republic of Komi whose fortunate geographical location, affording it access to the sea coast, as well as its developed infrastructure and pipeline system and, finally, its considerable manpower resources make the Timan-Pechora oil- and gas-bearing province, which is the Republic’s key region, one of the most attractive venues for investment and for increasing Russia’s oil production.