In a recent information meeting with locals in a coastal village adjacent to the Kara Sea, Gazprom representatives confirmed that the company will conduct both 2D and 3D seismic studies of the license areas. The studies will be local and short-lasting and will not affect ecosystems in the area, the company underlined in the meeting, Rusenergy.com reports.
Several of the license areas are located close to the Yamal Peninsula and oil and gas discoveries could potentially be linked with existing infrastructure on land. Gazprom has over the last years invested heavily in the development of Bovanenkovo, the biggest gas field in Yamal, as well as adjacent pipeline and railway infrastructure. The offshore areas now to be studied are the Leningradsky, Rusanovsky, Severo-Kharasaveysky, Obruchevsky, Nevsky, Skuratovsky and Lyarmeysky license areas, the company informs.
It is the Gazprom Geologorazvedka, a subsidiary of the gas major, which is to be responsible for the operations.
Gazprom’s activities in the Kara Sea comes as competitor energy company Rosneft is unfolding a major seismic mapping in nearby areas. The company in 2011 signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement with ExxonMobil, according to which three huge Kara Sea structures are to be explored. As previously reported, the company in 2013 conducted a total of 32,727 km of 2D mapping and another 2559 square kilometers of 3D mapping in its offshore license area. A first drillhole is to be made in the Kara Sea in 2014, at the Akademichesky license.
