OJSC Gazprom acquired at auction on Tuesday the property of the operator of the Kovykta gas condensate field at a price 1.5 times higher than the starting price, which was 15 billion rubles, that is, it paid about 22.6 billion rubles, a source familiar with the results of the auction told RIA Novosti.
Kovykta gas condensate field(KGKM) is one of the largest gas fields in the world. The field is located in the Irkutsk Region, 450 km north-east of Irkutsk. Geographically, the deposit is almost entirely included in the northeastern part of the Zhigalovsky district ( administrative center Zhigalovo settlement), partly in Kazachinsko-Lensky district (administrative center of Kazachinsk settlement).
For the first time, the field was discovered as a result of seismic exploration in 1975-1976. The official date of the discovery of the field is 1987.
In June 2007, TNK-BP and BP signed an agreement with Gazprom to sell it a 62.8% stake in RUSIA Petroleum, as well as a 50% stake in the East Siberian Gas Company, the Irkutsk Oblast gasification operator.
In early 2009, BP announced that negotiations were frozen.
At the end of March 2010, TNK-BP co-owner Viktor Vekselberg announced that the company plans to complete the deal to sell its stake in the Kovykta project to Rosneftegaz by the end of the year.
When the bankruptcy procedure for RUSIA Petroleum was launched, negotiations with Rosneftegaz were terminated.
On October 19, 2010 RUSIA Petroleum was declared bankrupt.
On March 1, 2011 it became known that OJSC "Gazprom" acquired the property of OJSC "RUSIA Petroleum" at the auction. At the same time, the owner of the property complex for the development of the deposit will have the pre-emptive right to obtain a license, since it cannot be sold and must be transferred to the unallocated subsoil fund.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti
The development of the Kovykta field is of particular importance for Siberia. This is the only international gas project in the region funded by private investors. Its success will increase the investment attractiveness of Siberia
The Kovykta gas condensate field has been under the special attention of the Irkutsk Oblast authorities for more than ten years. They talk about him only as about the hope for the revival of all Eastern Siberia... Moreover, the Kovykta development project is capable of bringing political dividends to the whole of Russia, since China, Japan and South Korea express their desire to become consumers of gas from the new field.
The new is the well-explored old
The Kovykta gas condensate field is located 450 km northeast of Irkutsk and 250 km from Lake Baikal. Geographically, it is almost entirely included in the northeastern part of the Zhigalovsky district and partially in the Kazachinsko-Lensky district.
Geologists began to show interest in Kovykta back in 1975-1976 - it was then that the first seismic exploration work was carried out here. But officially the year of its opening was 1987, when the Irkutskneftegazgeologia trust carried out exploratory drilling. 24 areas were discovered in the field, in which gas and condensate occur at a depth of 2,838 to 3,388 m.
Explored reserves here amount to 1.9 trillion cubic meters. m of recoverable gas, of which category C1 - 1.4 trillion cubic meters. m (explored reserves), in the C2 category - 572 billion cubic meters. m (preliminary estimated reserves). In addition, it is assumed that it contains 107 million tons of liquid gas condensate (81.3 million tons are available for production). In terms of these indicators, the Kovykta field belongs to the category of unique ones.
The explored potential will provide a production level of over 30 billion cubic meters. meters of gas per year. Analysts at RUSIA Petroleum, which owns the license for the development of Kovykta, say that "this field could easily become the main source of gas for target markets over the next 50 years."
Despite the rather convenient location near roads and settlements, the practical development of Kovykta begins only now, almost 30 years after the discovery of reserves. And there are reasons for this.
In 1993, RUSIA Petroleum, created a year earlier, and now controlled by TNK-BP, received a license to develop the largest gas condensate field in Siberia. But the company was in no hurry to start production, although the schemes for the integrated development of numerous oil and gas fields in the Irkutsk region, to which subsoil users are now approaching, were prepared back in 1989. According to the mayor of the Ust-Kutsk municipal formation Vladimir Senin, in the 1990s, the authorities were interested in the development of small oil fields for the region's own needs. Vice Governor of the Irkutsk Region, Deputy Head of Administration for State Property and Regional Resources Larisa Zabrodskaya believes that the delay in the development of the largest deposits in the Irkutsk region (Sukhoi Log, Verkhnyaya Chona, Kovykta) played into the hands of the state. In the 1990s, this development would have led to a massive redistribution of property. The authorities also had other reasons to postpone the production of the Kovykta gas at that time.
Although the cities of Eastern Siberia needed gasification, the development of a large field and the creation of infrastructure required huge investments. Cheap electricity then covered all the needs of the population and enterprises, so there was no need for this gas.
Now the situation has changed. Electricity tariffs and oil prices have increased, therefore, replacing fuel oil and coal-fired boiler houses with gas ones can significantly reduce heat energy tariffs, as well as improve the environmental situation in the cities of the Angara region. Enterprises in the region, for example Sayanskkhimplast, are beginning to suffer from a shortage of raw materials for production needs. Finally, the geopolitical aspect is coming to the fore more and more clearly: the Kovykta gas can become a lever of Russia's influence in the Asia-Pacific region (APR).
Thus, one of the fastest growing countries in the Asia-Pacific region, China, according to experts, by 2010 will experience a deficit of 40-50 billion cubic meters. m of gas. It will have to be replenished through imports. Neighboring South Korea increases gas imports every year.
All of the above circumstances have recently made it possible to speed up the development of Kovykta. Moreover, today this project is called a real breakthrough in economic development region.
Gasification of the Irkutsk Region
It was decided to start developing the field with the gasification of the Irkutsk Region. Concrete steps were taken last year. In March 2004, the Governor of the Irkutsk Region, Boris Govorin, and the then Managing Director for Production and Technologies of OJSC TNK-BP Management, Viktor Vekselberg, signed an agreement on the establishment of OJSC East Siberian Gas Company (ESGK) on a parity basis. a gas supply and gasification project for the region based on the Kovykta gas condensate field. Aleksey Sobol, former deputy governor of the Irkutsk region, became the head of the ESCC. The authorized capital of the company amounted to 30 million rubles.
"The regional gas project based on Kovykta is independent and does not depend on the terms and conditions of the international gas project for the development of the Kovykta field," says Viktor Vekselberg.
In the third quarter of last year, the development of a feasibility study for investments in the gasification project of the Irkutsk Region was completed, and the corporate structure of its implementation was determined. The main participants are RUSIA Petroleum (its field of activity includes gas production), Sayanskkhimplast (gas processing, purification from impurities, condensate processing) and VSGK (gas transportation).
Today, the total volume of capital expenditures for the project, according to the investment feasibility study, is $ 850-950 million. The main amount of investments - about $ 370 million - will go to the construction of the main gas pipeline. The next in terms of capital intensity - about $ 320 million - is the gas processing unit, the rest is investment in gas production and transportation of gas condensate. The payback period of the project is 9-10 years. The gasification program of the Irkutsk Region provides for the laying of a main gas pipeline with a length of more than 550 km along the Kovykta-Sayansk-Angarsk-Irkutsk route, as well as the construction of a gas processing complex and a gas condensate processing unit.
The cost of an international project, including the construction of a pipeline to China and South Korea, as well as the development of gas production at Kovykta, will amount to more than $ 12 billion.
According to the report on the work done for 2004, the East Siberian Gas Company agreed on the investment feasibility study, and also chose the general contractor to carry out complex surveys of the linear part of the main pipeline - VostSibTransProekt Research Institute (Irkutsk). He started work in 2005. A contractor was also selected for the exploration of underwater crossings by the method of trenching across the Lena River and the Bratsk reservoir - JSC "GiprodorNII" (Irkutsk). According to Alexey Sobol, the underwater passage through the Bratsk reservoir in the Balagansk region is a powerful engineering structure with a length of more than 3 km.
During October 2005, conditions will be prepared for organizing a tender for onshore engineering surveys. And by the second quarter of 2006 - the terms of the tender among construction contractors. In the middle of next year, work should begin on the preparation of roads and locations for equipment.
According to the plans of the VSGK, the first gas from Kovykta will be received by consumers in the Zhigalovsky region in the fourth quarter of 2006. In the future, more than 100 settlements of the Irkutsk Region and the Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug will be supplied with gas.
Fuss around the project
Gasification of Irkutsk and the region attracts primarily local administrations. The federal authorities have much broader plans.
The international focus of the Kovykta field development project is determined by the intergovernmental Russian-Chinese general agreement signed on February 25, 1999 and the agreement on the supply of natural gas to China, the Republic of Korea and other countries of the Asia-Pacific region, concluded on November 2, 2000 ( raw material base for this, Kovykta was defined). The volume of gas supplies to China and Korea is set at 20 and 10 billion cubic meters. m per year, respectively.
Source of financing international program while still the same - funds of TNK-BP, the main shareholder of RUSIA Petroleum.
The fact that the project is promising and capable of bringing large political and financial dividends is proved by the struggle for control over the owner of the development license.
Thus, after the merger of British Petroleum (BP) with TNK, the new TNK-BP enterprise received a controlling stake in RUSIA Petroleum - 62%. This made it possible to change the top management of RUSIA Petroleum: the position of the general director of the company is now occupied by the former deputy minister natural resources Valery Pak... It was he who helped BP obtain a license to develop the Kovykta field.
Today RUSIA Petroleum has prepared the Kovykta field for commercial exploitation. Its 2005 budget is set at $ 129 million.
Indirect confirmation of the significance of the project and the interest in it on the part of the state can be found elsewhere. For example, in September last year, the leadership of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation announced that they were going to revoke the license for Kovykta from RUSIA Petroleum. Minister of Natural Resources Yuri Trutnev accused the company, in particular, of insufficiently fast pace of development of the field: “We have significant questions for RUSIA Petroleum. There is tension on the part of the Ministry of Natural Resources in relation to Kovykta, because gasification of the region could have been done for another ten years back, and there is no need to pull any transnational gas pipelines. I don’t understand what hindered this. ”
Commenting on the minister's statement, Valery Pak said that the accusations of inaction are unfair: "RUSIA is the only company in the country that prepared the field for industrial development at its own expense, without attracting budget funds. What do they want to take away from us. A piece of paper?"
One can only guess what purpose the Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation pursued by making such a statement. Most likely, the increased attention of the authorities to Kovykta has a political subtext and should accelerate Gazprom's entry into the project. This company, endowed by the government with the status of coordinator of the program for the integrated development of hydrocarbon deposits in Eastern Siberia and Of the Far East, advocates the supply of gas from Kovykta, in addition to consumers of the Irkutsk region and nearby regions, to Europe. For this, the regional gas network will be integrated with the Unified Gas Supply System. Instead of an export pipeline, Gazprom proposes to build gas chemical plants in the region and export to markets South-East Asia gas processing products, which will increase the cost of the project from the current $ 12 billion to $ 17-25 billion. According to Gazprom, a project of this scale cannot be implemented within the framework of the RUSIA Petroleum consortium.
However, the operator himself understands this. Both the administration of the Irkutsk region and the management of RUSIA Petroleum are ready to enter Gazprom's Kovykta. For example, Governor Boris Govorin for almost the entire last year talked about the administration's plans to hold an auction at which the regional stakes in RUSIA Petroleum (10.78%) and Verkhnechonskneftegaz OJSC (VCNG, the largest shareholders: TNK-BP - 62% of shares, Interros - 25.7%, the administration of the Irkutsk region - 11.3%). At the same time, Govorin expressed a desire for Gazprom to take part in the auction: “We are interested in integrated development of our fields by the forces of the most powerful companies. This, of course, will speed up the development process and contribute to the prompt resolution of current issues. "
The role of the regional administration in the project, according to its representatives, is to monitor the implementation of the social component. Thus, Deputy Governor Larisa Zabrodskaya notes that it is difficult for the regional authorities, following corporate laws, to manage their block of shares in VCNG - it is too small to have any influence on the company. "In this case," says Zabrodskaya, "the region has a purely political representation in Verkhnechonskneftegaz."
Last year, the regional package of VCNG was offered to 35 companies. The main contender, of course, was Gazprom. But its head Alexey Miller stated in 2004: "Our company does not buy less than a controlling stake." Recently, the head of Gazprom admitted: "The company will not buy regional stakes until it resolves all the merger issues with Rosneft." But after that, Gazprom's entry into the development of the Kovykta field is very likely: the state cannot miss the opportunity to control the most promising and largest "gas" project in Siberia.
The presence of regional authorities in the development of the field is necessary, since with the implementation of the project, a new industry appears in the regional economy - gas processing. Therefore, the regional block of shares of the East Siberian Gas Company, unlike the shares of the regional administration in other enterprises in the region, will not be sold.
The project should affect 9 municipal districts of the region and the Ust-Ordynsky Buryat Autonomous Okrug, coordination between which only the regional administration can take over.
And who are the consumers?
Commercial consumers of Kovykta gas should be Sayanskkhimplast OJSC, Usoliekhimprom LLC, Angarskcement OJSC, Irkut NPK, Irkutskteploenergo and Mineral CJSC.
Sayansk will be the center for receiving gas from Kovykta. There, at the Sayanskkhimplast site, it is planned to create a gas processing plant, where natural gas will be separated into components - ethane for the needs of Sayanskkhimplast (required for the production of ethylene), propane-butane and methane.
As noted general manager Sayanskkhimplasta Nikolay Melnik, participation of the enterprise in the project of gasification of the Irkutsk region on the basis of the Kovykta gas condensate field is the basis for the future development of the company. "We regard Kovykta gas as an alternative source of raw materials for production," Nikolai Melnik emphasized. "Currently, we obtain ethylene for this only from the Angarsk Polymer Plant. In 2009, it is planned to launch a gas chemical complex at our site, which will include ethylene production units. , as well as a gas separation and helium plant ".
Helium is a strategic raw material that is used in a number of important industries: science, medicine, space and defense industries. The helium plant will be named CJSC Cryoplast. The constituent documents of the enterprise have already been signed. 50% of its shares will be owned by Sayanskkhimplast OJSC and Moscow Scientific and Production Association Geliimash OJSC.
“In fact, we are organizing new production by regional forces,” says Larisa Zabrodskaya. “The Kovykta development project is very important for us.”
As for the flow of gas to the regions of Irkutsk and the region, everything is not so simple. The prospect of orienting gas towards housing and communal services raises doubts, and the main argument is clear: the regional communal services are insolvent today. In villages with stove heating, gas is not needed; only administrative buildings and schools will become consumers there. But some municipal leaders think differently. So, the head of the Zhigalovsky district administration Georgy Zarukin said that he wants to transfer the entire district heating system from coal to gas.
“We are actively working with the mayors of many cities and districts of the region,” says Aleksey Sobol. settlement... If coal supplies are established in the region, gasification may be unprofitable. The municipality, which has decided that the use of gas is much more efficient than other sources, will have to think about the preparation of gasification schemes, the search for resources for the construction of gas networks and the creation of gas infrastructure. "
Now the mayor's offices of Irkutsk, Sayansk, Usolye-Sibirskiy, Angarsk, administrations of Zhigalovskiy, Ziminskiy, Balaganskiy districts are showing interest in the project. In Irkutsk, for example, in the Pravoberezhny district, it would be possible to replace 26 coal and fuel oil boiler houses with 9-10 gas boiler houses. At the same time, heat tariffs, according to estimates of the VSGK, will decrease by 30-35%. And in a large microdistrict of Irkutsk Novo-Lenino, having done the same, it is possible to reduce tariffs for heat by 50%.
With Kovykta - to the future
Gas production is already underway at Kovykta. So far, only for their own needs - for heating the staff houses and the operation of a small power plant.
The field is located compactly, which allows compliance with environmental safety standards. Thus, new environmentally friendly technologies for separating gas from condensate are used here. The fact that gas comes from wells through pipes is indicated only by a slight smell. Production tracking is carried out automatically: everything is computerized.
Due to the lack of funds in the regional road fund, RUSIA Petroleum maintains a part of the Zhigalovo-Magistralny road, seeks to register the property and equipment of its contractors in the development areas. Now this is the only thing that the company can give to the territories in the form of tax revenues.
While the regional gasification project is already being implemented, the "export option" is still in the air. An international feasibility study for a project for gas supplies to China and Korea was signed back in November 2003. All materials were sent to the governments of the three participating countries. But the decision on deliveries has not yet been made.
The point of view that Gazprom adheres to - that gas from Kovykta should be supplied to the domestic market, and the export needs of China and Korea should be covered by gas from Sakhalin and Yakutia - also has not yet found universal approval. According to Aleksey Sobol, it is not only about the economy, but also about geopolitics. Russia's interests, both economic and political, already require serious work to develop Siberia's natural resources. And we need to do this today.
Boris Govorin believes that in the next decade the development of Kovykta may become one of the most significant projects of intensive cooperation on a regional and interstate scale. This can increase the investment attractiveness of both the Irkutsk region and the entire Siberian region as a whole. This was confirmed by the visit of British experts to Irkutsk on March 14-15. Nick Latta, Second Secretary of the Department for Trade and Investment in the Oil and Gas Sector of the British Embassy in Moscow, and Craig Jones, a representative of the British government organization UK Trade & Investment (this organization promotes the development of trade and economic relations between the UK and other countries), arrived to discuss the prospects of the project. that their visit is connected with the fact that in the near future many international financial institutions and expert credit agencies will be involved in the Kovykta project.
The development of the Kovykta field will become a powerful stimulating factor for social and economic recovery in the regions where the construction of gas facilities is planned. A large number of jobs will be created during the construction and operation of the field, materials and engineering products will be required. Dozens of large Russian equipment manufacturers, contractors and suppliers will be indirectly involved in the Kovykta development project, which will bring significant revenues to the budgets of all levels.
The Kovykta gas condensate field is the largest in Eastern Siberia in terms of gas reserves. It is the base for the formation of the Irkutsk gas production center and the resource base for the Power of Siberia gas pipeline along with the Chayandinskoye field in Yakutia.
Figures and facts
The field was discovered in 1987 in the Zhigalovsky and Kazachinsko-Lensky districts of the Irkutsk region.
In terms of reserves (C1 + C2 categories), it is categorized as unique: 2.5 trillion cubic meters. m of gas and 86 million tons of gas condensate (recoverable) - within the license areas of PJSC Gazprom (Kovyktinsky, Khandinsky, Chikansky).
The planned design capacity is 25 billion cubic meters. meters of gas per year.
The gas from the field has a complex component composition - in addition to methane, it contains propane, butane and significant amounts of helium. Valuable components of the Kovykta gas will be produced at the Amur gas processing plant.
Development
Gazprom received a license to develop the Kovykta field in 2011. The field is currently in the pilot production stage. Geological exploration work is underway, research is being carried out on the production capabilities of the existing stock of production wells, as well as testing of membrane technology for helium extraction in field conditions.
Technologies
The field is characterized by a complex geological structure... For its development, Gazprom will use advanced highly efficient technologies.
The Kovykta field is a promising gas condensate field in the east of the Irkutsk Region. Located in the uninhabited territory of Zhigalovsky and Kazachinsko-Lensky districts. The distance to Irkutsk is just over 400 km. The area is a high-mountain plateau covered with dark coniferous taiga.
The relief is distinguished by the presence of numerous valleys - canyons. Climatic conditions rather harsh and sharply continental. The developed project for the operation of the Kovykta field provides for the construction of a gas trunkline with a length of more than 550 km. The laying route - Kovykta – Sayansk – Angarsk – Irkutsk - was supplemented by the construction of a gas separation facility and a helium plant.
The main characteristics of the field
The Kovykta gas condensate field is confined to the south of the Siberian platform of the Angara-Lena stage. In accordance with the petro-geological 
zoning the territory of the deposit belongs to the Angara-Lenskaya OGO Leno-Tunguska OGP. The Angara-Lensky trough is a monocline bounded from the east and northeast by Lake Baikal, as well as by the territory of the Baikal fold region. From the north, the trough is bordered by the Katanga saddle, and the western and northwestern parts are bounded by the Nepa-Botuoba anteclise.
The entire section of the trough occupies an area of 500 thousand square meters. The crystalline basement of the trough consists of metamorphosed rocks belonging to the Archean-Proterozoic age. Numerous faults split the basement into several tectonic blocks, submerged from the frame into central part... As a result of this feature, the Angara-Lena step, or the Irkutsk amphitheater, is formed.
The deposit is characterized by an anticlinal type of trap and a lithologically screened reservoir with a depth of 2.84–3.39 km and a height of 0.15 km.
Productive formations - P2 and P1, related to the Parfenovskiy horizon - have a thickness of 14–33 m and 38–54 m, respectively.
Development start dates and reserves
As a result of seismic exploration more than thirty years ago, the Kovykta gas condensate field was discovered. The official discovery of the field took place after the confirmation of commercial gas content in 1987. The area is slightly more than 7.5 thousand square meters.
Based on the minutes of the Central Committee of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, the following reserves of the Kovykta field were approved:
- C1 gas - 1,128,867 million cubic meters;
- C2 category gas - 467,782 million cubic meters;
- recoverable C1 gas condensate - 31,796 thousand tons;
- recoverable gas condensate of category C2 - 21,939 thousand tons.
Extraction features
The structural and lithological feature of the structure of the sedimentary section is the presence of three formational complexes: subsalt, 
saline and post-salt.
The composition of the subsalt complex is characterized by the composition of the Lower Cambrian terrigenous and carbonate rocks. The deposits are characterized by erosion and angular unconformity, and the place of occurrence is the weathered surface of metamorphosed rocks belonging to the basement of the Angara-Lena step, and the Riphean deposits.
The subsalt complex acts as the basic gas-bearing strata of the region. The composition of the Chorskaya Formation is distinguished by the presence of the Parfenovskiy horizon, which is based on the main gas reserves of the entire region.
The Parfenovskiy horizon is characterized by a regional type of distribution, with the presence of different-grained quartz-feldspar and quartz cross-bedded sandstones with deltaic and alluvial facies.
The components of the post-salt complex are:
- terrigenous-carbonate rocks belonging to the Middle and Upper Cambrian;
- Ordovician terrigenous rocks.
The thickness of the Parfenovskiy horizon varies from 40 to 80 meters. The porosity is 20%, and the permeability is 2,000 billion. The salt complex is represented by alternating layers of rock salt with dolomites, as well as limestone with anhydrite. The surface part is formed by interlayers of marls, sandstones and dolomites. The complex has a total capacity of about 1.8 km.
Local occurrence is typical for Pliocene-Quaternary deposits of alluvial complexes, consisting of sands, sandstones, conglomerates, mudstones and siltstones.
Companies developing the field
Initially, the license to develop the field belonged to OJSC RUSIA Petroleum, a subsidiary of TNK-BP, and Interros.
For more than ten years, the company did not start developing the gas condensate field. The reasons for this downtime were numerous disagreements among shareholders and actual obstacles on the part of Gazprom.
Beginning in 2002, Gazprom made attempts to participate in the project and, as a monopoly in the field of export gas pipelines, sought to resolve the issue of exporting the Kovykta gas pipeline.
Having not received the consent of the shareholders of RUSIA Petroleum, the managers of Gazprom came up with a proposal to gasify the Irkutsk Region without the participation of Kovykta.
Since 2003, the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia has warned owners several times about the possibility of revoking a license due to a long period of downtime. In 2006, at the suggestion of RUSIA Petroleum, the issue of creating a consortium for the development of the field according to a profitable scheme was considered. In mid-2007, Gazprom and TNK-BP reached an agreement stipulating the sale of the gas monopoly by the Russian-British company.
The deal was estimated at $ 900 million. In this case, TNK-BP would have an option to repurchase a quarter of the interest 
plus one share in Rusia Petroleum valid for 12 months. The deal did not materialize.
In 2010, TNK-BP submitted statement of claim to declare bankruptcy of RUSIA Petroleum, and already in early 2011 at an auction, RUSIA Petroleum was acquired by Gazprom for the amount of USD 770 million.
Gazprom Geologorazvedka has begun drilling operations at the Kovykta gas and condensate field under the exploration wells development program in order to clarify data on the structure and volume of hydrocarbon debit and detail the geological model of the gas and condensate field.
Construction is carried out using modern technologies and materials that ensure the safety of industrial and environmental segments.
Field prospects
The Kovykta gas condensate field is one of the largest deposits of the world scale and is the most large deposit on the territory of Eastern Siberia. According to the latest data, gas reserves belonging to the C1 + C2 category are equal to 2 trillion cubic meters. Recoverable gas reserves:
- category C1 - about 70 million tons;
- category C2 - about 15.5 million tons.
Based on preliminary estimated data from additional exploration of the northern part of the field, it was concluded that it is possible to ensure an increase in reserves up to the mark of 3 trillion cubic meters. Methane gas contains small amounts of ethane, butane, propane and helium impurities. The estimated reserves of helium slightly exceed 2 billion cubic meters.
Impact on the ecology of the region
On the territory of the Irkutsk region, large-scale measures are planned to improve the ecological situation in the region. It was decided to carry out such measures during the operation of the Kovykta field.
For three years, Gazprom Geologorazvedka has been developing a field in the Zhigalovsky District, and this year, work will begin in the Kazachinsko-Lensky District. In the course of this work, a number of activities will be implemented aimed at preserving the ecosystem.
The regional administration and Gazprom Geologorazvedka signed an agreement providing for the construction of demineralized strips and fire breaks in the region.
In addition, it is planned to work on the disposal of petroleum products and activities aimed at socio-economic development, as well as stimulating scientific, technical, innovation and investment activities in the region.
