57 Years Ago the Orenburg Oil and Gas Condensate Field was Discovered
November 6 marked the 57th anniversary of the discovery of the unique Orenburg oil and gas condensate field (OGCF).
The field’s reserves amounted to almost 2 trillion cubic meters of gas. In Europe it was the largest. It contains many valuable components, including ethane and helium.
In 1968, the creation of a field development system began, and in 1971, the construction of gas complex facilities was declared an All-Union Komsomol shock construction project.
In the Orenburg steppe, 11 complex gas treatment plants, three booster compressor stations, two plants – gas processing and helium, a pipeline system, including the Soyuz export gas pipeline and the only ethane pipeline in the world, through which ethane is transported in a supercritical state, were built.
Thanks to the construction of the gas complex, Orenburg’s housing stock increased by a third, dozens of transport and social infrastructure facilities were built, and the population of the regional center almost doubled.
At the turn of the 70s and 80s of the last century, every 10th cubic meter of gas produced in the USSR was from Orenburg.
Over half a century, Gazprom Dobycha Orenburg LLC has produced 1.3 trillion cubic meters of gas and 57 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons. Today, the residual gas reserves of the Orenburg oil and gas condensate field amount to 604 billion cubic meters, of which 400 billion cubic meters are technologically recoverable.
At the current stage of development, the Orenburg oil and gas condensate field produces 10 billion cubic meters of gas and 200 thousand tons of liquid hydrocarbons per year. Work is underway to strengthen the resource base both by increasing the efficiency of development of the Orenburg oil and gas condensate field, and by searching, evaluating and putting into development fields in new license areas.
The implementation of the measures included in the Development Strategy of Gazprom Dobycha Orenburg LLC until 2050 will ensure the stable operation of the complex for many years.
