The efficient use of associated petroleum gas becomes a stable trend in oil and gas industry of Russia
The positive dynamics
Receiving and efficient use of associated gas in Russia is becoming a number of priority directions of development of the oil and gas industry. This trend emerged in 2012. The Russian Government then introduced in effect a hard target, which enabled to flare only up to 5% of the produced APG.
Preparation of Russian oil companies for the execution of this standard, adopted in January 2009, took four years. However, by results of 2012, the share of associated gas in the total volume of gas produced by oil companies amounted to 76.4% (!). In absolute terms - 71.84 billion cubic meters (+5% as compared with 2011).
A significant incentive for the rational use of associated gas was also increased fees for pollution during the flaring of associated gas. From January 1, 2013, in calculation of the payment amount a multiplying factor of 12 began to be applied, in 2014 it doubled to 25 (!), while in 2012 it was only 4.5.
If a deposit is not equipped with APG volume meters, the multiplying factor is increased to 120 (in 2012, this ratio was 6). In addition to a significant tightening of financial sanctions, Russian oil companies also received a "carrot" - the possibility of taking into account of costs incurred in the calculation of payments.
Then, in 2013, the top five leaders for the APG taking in oil production appeared: Rosneft (with a volume of 15.5 billion cubic meters) and now its integral part BP-TNK (14.8 billion cubic meters); Surgutneftegaz (12.31 billion cubic meters); Lukoil (9.42 billion cubic meters); Gazpromneft (6.36 billion cubic meters). The level of associated gas receiving in other oil producing companies is much lower - from 0.5 to 1.7 billion cubic meters.
Experts identified another prize nomination - reducing the amount of flared gas. Here the palm of victory was got by Lukoil, which in 2013 was able to reduce the volume of APG flaring by 40%. However, that year a nationwide gas flare increased by 2% (17.07 billion cubic meters). Their "contribution" was made by remote deposits in Eastern Siberia, where in 2013 7.55 billion cubic meters of APG were flared (+31%).
Another important criterion that determines the best companies is the share of associated gas, supplied to energy industry (as fuel) and for gas chemical processing (as a particularly valuable hydrocarbon raw material).
