Western Siberia is the land of not only a harsh climate, but also of innumerable wealth. And, as if knowing the price of their “pantries”, nature here seemed to have done everything possible to shelter them from man. Natural gas production in this region is, of course, very complicated. There are many developed deposits of this kind here. And one of the biggest is, of course, Bearish.
When were the deposits discovered?
This field, unique in its structure, was discovered in 1967 by Soviet geologists. The plans for its development by the USSR government began to cost almost immediately. In the same year, a Directorate for the arrangement of northern gas pipelines was organized in the village of Labytnangi, located near the field.
But this, at that time, unfortunately, practically ended. The Bear Field was waiting for its time for several more years. In 1970, the directorate relocated to the more convenient village of Nadym, leaving only its branch in Labytnangi.
However, the authorities did not forget about the newly discovered deposit. In the same year, the organization responsible for future developments was selected. It became Glavtyumenneftegaz. Also in Labytnangi the Polar Deep Drilling Expedition was organized.
First difficulties
1972 is considered the year of the beginning of the development of the Bear oil and gas condensate field. But the builders started about 2 years earlier to prepare for its development. At the end of 1970, to the place of the deposit - on the right bank of the river. Nadym, the first lorry was transported. However, the equipment itself then, unfortunately, could not approach the layers. The builders managed to overcome the very wetlands only about a month later - in January 1971.
How was the preparation
Having managed to "break through", finally, to the field, the builders immediately laid the foundations of the buildings of the new village of Pangody. At the end of 1970, a runway for heavy cargo aircraft was also equipped in this village. Air communication with the mainland was finally established. And therefore, it was possible to proceed with the installation of the necessary equipment, as well as the drilling of wells. Soon, the Pangoda runway already took up to 40 flights of heavy aircraft with cargo for construction.
In the same year, the Nadym Field Directorate was established to provide management of the production and supply of fuel at the Medvezhye gas field. Later it was renamed to Nadymgazprom.
When did the development begin?
Thus, the country began to produce blue fuel for the country in 2008. But the first gas collection point GP-2 (later UKPG) was built here in December 1971. It was located about 20 km from the village of Pangoda. After some time - in March 1972, the first well of the field, No. 52, was completely prepared and put into operation. This made it possible to ensure efficient electrification and gas heat supply of the Pangoda settlement itself. The first torch on Bear was lit by the end of March. For the Tyumen region, he was already the sixth in a row. In May 1972, the wells of the field were transferred to workshop mode.
What difficulties did builders have to overcome in preparation
The first exploration well No. 52 lasted for almost ten months. Unfortunately, the gas industry experienced practically no drilling experience in permafrost and at high abnormal pressures then. But in January 1972 a team of V. M. Kochergi arrived at the site. From this moment things went much faster. This was primarily due to the fact that the Kochergi team had already worked on the development of previously discovered gas fields in Siberia.
Subsequently, the Bear became a real forge of highly qualified personnel. It was here that many advanced workers and leaders gained experience for the development of other complex crafts of Siberia.
Further development
In the first year, the development of the Medvezhye deposit, unfortunately, was very late. Instead of the planned 4 billion / m 3 of gas, it gave the country only 1.9 billion / m 3 . And this taking into account the fact that the design capacity of the finished GP-2 was as much as 8.5 billion / m 3 per year. This was due, as already mentioned, primarily to the lack of experience among gas workers.
Of course, such a state of affairs, the country's leadership, closely monitoring this grandiose construction, was completely unsatisfactory. However, they managed to rectify the situation at the Medvezhye gas field only after launching the third gas treatment point - GP-1 (the second was put into operation GP-3).
It is believed that the main impetus for accelerating the development of the field was the transfer of the Polar Deep Drilling Expedition to the management of Mingazprom. Soon after, the backlog was completely eliminated. All subsequent gas treatment points were put into operation on time. However, during the construction process, among other things, the project had to include some adjustments. So, for example, the power of the ninth gas treatment plant had to be reduced by almost half. Also, gas workers refused to build the last tenth gas treatment facility.
In 1974, blue fuel from the Medvezhye field first arrived in Moscow. At the same design capacity of 65 billion / m 3 per year, this facility was launched in 1977.
Field at the end of the century
By the beginning of the new millennium, the Bear Bear, unfortunately, went into the stage of declining production. The field was greatly affected by excessive gas extraction from productive formations in the 70s. At that time, Siberia, due to the energy crisis, had to bail out the national economy not only of Russia itself, but also of other countries of the socialist camp. This, of course, affected the “health” of the object by no means in the best way.
Deposit today
Despite the slowdown in the supply of blue fuel to the country, the Bear Field has not yet said its last word. After all, besides everything else, there have always been deposits of low-pressure bottom gas.
In 2011, a new UKPG-N was launched at the field on the Nadinsky site. The preparation of gas and condensate at this point is carried out by the method of low-temperature separation. The capacity of this new GP is 2.7 mrd / m 3 per year for blue fuel. In terms of condensate, this figure is 60 thousand tons per year. It is on this section that Gazprom dobycha Nadym currently develops fatty low-pressure gas of the Apt-Alpine deposits.
Of course, experts also carry out forecasting of development indicators of the Bear Field. At this facility, the rate of pressure drop in the reservoirs is constantly monitored and optimal technological modes of well operation are compiled.
Contribution of Soviet gas workers to the development of the country's economy
Over the years of development of the Medvezhye field, its engineers and designers have managed to introduce into production just a huge number of different new developments. The result was an increase in production productivity by as much as 15 times.
So, for example, it was at this facility that the technique of producing blue fuel from two-column wells was first used. At the moment, it is used on formations everywhere. Also, it’s the gasmen of the Medvezhye field who first applied the now popular practice of cluster drilling. Using this production technology, up to 3-5 wells can be located on one site. Thanks to this then new technique, the company then managed to achieve a significant reduction in development costs. For comparison: in the Berezovsky gas field, inferior to the Medvezhye in area by as much as 500 times, only 1.5 times fewer mines were drilled.
The gas specialists of this enterprise once managed to increase the productivity of separators and absorbers, including by introducing special centrifugal direct-flow contact elements. Another achievement of the Bear’s engineers was the use of the modern block method of assembling equipment for those years. This technology was also first applied at this facility.
Brief description of the Bear Field
The geological section of this object is represented by clays of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic period, as well as metamorphosed Paleozoic rocks and Jurassic deposits at maximum depth.
Gas deposits here are massive and massive and are lined with bottom water. They have a length of 116 km and a width of up to 20 km. The thickness of the reservoir of this field is a single gas-hydrodynamic system, characterized by frequent dissections.
Where is the Bear Field
For 2017, this facility is still operational and gives work to many gas workers of various specialties. This company annually supplies billions of cubic meters of blue fuel to the country's system.
This giant is located in the Nadym district of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The field is located 50 km south-west of Nyda. Gas is supplied to the country’s system via the Medvezhye – Nadym – Punga highway collected from pipes with a diameter of 1420 mm.
Why the field was called Bear
One very interesting fact is associated with the development of this important facility for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and for the country. The name of this gas condensate field is unusual. And some people believe that it came from the surname of a hermit who once lived in this area. The name of this man, who decided to remain alone in the inhospitable tundra, was Nikolai Mikhailovich. His surname was indeed Medvedev. However, unfortunately, even the old-timers of the region do not even remember exactly why this field was called Medvezhye.