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Putin to participate through video conf in opening Kirinsky gas condensate field on Sakhalin shelf

Gazprom's Kirinsky gas and condensate field, located in the Sea of Okhotsk, 28 km from Sakhalin shore, is to become a resource base for the Vladivosotk-LNG project
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, October 23 (Itar-Tass) - President Vladimir Putin will participate through a video conference from the Kremlin on Wednesday in a ceremony markng the putting into operation of the unique Kirinsky gas and condensate field on the shelf of Sakhalin Island, the presidential press service reported.

Directly at Sakhalin, the ceremony, which is due to be held in the building of the Beregovoi technological complex, will also involve Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, Anatoly Sorokin, General Director of the "Gazprom Dobycha (production) Shelf" Company, and Anatoly Titov, General Director of the "Gazprom Transgas Toms" Company.

Gazprom's Kirinsky gas and condensate field, located in the Sea of Okhotsk, 28 km from Sakhalin shore, is to become a resource base for the Vladivosotk-LNG project. The prospected reserves of the gasfield amount to 162.5 billion cubic metres of gas, and 19.1 million tonnes of gas condensate, the projected production of which is to amount to 5.5 billion cu. metres a year.

The gasfield is notable for the unique way of producing gas: for the first time in this countrys an underwater drilling complex "Polyarnaya Zvezda "(Polar star) is used for these purposes. The complex was made under an order placed by Gazprom at the Vyborg shipbuilding yard, a perss service official pointed out.

This gasfield is an important part of the Eastern Programme and of the Sakhalin-3 project". The main task set in the Eastern Programme (approved in 2007) is to install a gas supply service in the Eastern Siberia and the Far East. New gas production centers are being established for this purpose in Irkutsk Region, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Yakutia, on Sakhalin Island, and on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Apart from installing a gas supply service in the Russian territories, it is also planned to export gas to the market of the Asia-Pacific Region.

The Vladivostok-LNG project presupposes the construction of a plant in the Vladivostok area for the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) with a capacity of not less than 15 million tonnes a year. Gas to be supplied from Sakhalin, Yakutia, and Irkutsk gas production centers will be the resource base for the first two phases of the LNG plant. The start of the supply of the output from the first phase of the LNG plant is expected in 2018.