Lunskoye

Lunskoye Oil and Gas Field Profile

Overview

The Lunskoye Oil and Gas Field, often referred to as Lunskoe, is a significant operating oil and gas field located offshore in the Sea of Okhotsk, approximately 15 kilometres off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island, Russia. It is part of the larger Sakhalin-2 Oil and Gas Project, which also includes the Piltun-Astokhskoye Oil Field.

Project Details

• Operator: Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (SEIC)
• Owners: Gazprom (50.0%), Novatek (27.5%), Mitsui & Co (12.5%), and Mitsubishi Corporation (10.0%).
• Discovery Year: 1984
• Production Start Year: 1999 (initial production), with full-scale production from the Lunskoye-A platform starting in January 2009.

Field Characteristics

• Location: Offshore, Russia; coordinates 51.4503, 143.7017 (WGS 84).
• Water Depth: The Lunskoye platform is located in a water depth of 48 metres.
• Infrastructure:
  • The Lunskoye-A (LUN-A) platform has drilling facilities, accommodation, and minimum processing facilities. It is capable of producing 51 million cubic meters of gas per day and approximately 50,000 barrels of condensate per day.
  • The field is connected to an Onshore Processing Facility (OPF) via offshore pipelines, where gas and condensate are processed before being transported to the LNG plant and Oil Export Terminal (OET).

Production and Reserves

• Gas Reserves:
  • A + B1 + C1: 205,200 million cubic meters (as of 2021).
  • B2 + C2: 5,200 million cubic meters (as of 2021).
• Oil and Condensate Reserves:
  • Oil: 125.94 million barrels (A + B + C1).
  • Condensate: 281.78 million barrels (A + B + C1).
• Production:
  • Gas production: 18,400 million cubic meters per year (2020), 16,600 million cubic meters per year (2021).
  • Cumulative gas production: 170,000 million cubic meters (as of 2019).

Infrastructure and Facilities

• Offshore Platforms: The Lunskoye field includes the Lunskoye-A (LUN-A) platform, which is a concrete gravity base structure (CGBS) with a total weight of 103,000 tonnes. The platform has a base slab and four cylindrical legs supporting the topsides.
• Onshore Processing Facility (OPF): Located near the coast, the OPF processes gas and condensate from both the Lunskoye and Piltun-Astokhskoye fields. It includes a 100 MW power plant that supplies power to the OPF and the Lunskoye platform via a submarine cable.
• LNG Plant: Part of the Prigorodnoye Complex, the LNG plant has an annual capacity of 9.6 million tonnes, making it Russia’s first and one of the world’s largest LNG plants. The plant consists of two gas liquefaction process trains and includes storage and loading facilities.
• Pipelines and Export Facilities: The project includes 300 km of offshore pipelines and over 1,600 km of onshore pipelines. Crude oil is exported via a sub-sea pipeline to a tanker loading unit, and LNG is exported through a jetty with loading arms.

Historical Development

• Feasibility Study: Initiated in March 1992 by the MMM Consortium (Marathon, McDermott, and Mitsui), later joined by Shell and Mitsubishi. The study was approved by the Russian Federation in March 1993.
• Production Sharing Agreement: Signed in June 1994 among the Russian Federation, the Sakhalin Oblast Administration, and Sakhalin Energy.
• Phase 1 Production: Started in July 1999 with the first crude oil cargo exported in September 1999.
• Phase 2 Development: Full development began in May 2003, with the construction of the LNG plant starting in August 2003. The Lunskoye-A platform and LNG plant were commissioned in January and February 2009, respectively.

Environmental and Community Impact

• The project has been developed with a focus on minimal environmental impact and positive effects on the local community. It has involved significant Russian content and has provided opportunities for local industry to gain experience in the construction of such large-scale oil and gas projects.

Export Markets

• The LNG produced from the Lunskoye field is exported to various countries, with up to 60% going to Japan and the remainder to South Korea, Taiwan, China, Kuwait, the US, and Thailand.