Surhan Gas Chemical Operating Company: 5 years of unique experience in development of «М-25» field

On April 5, 2017, the President of the country signed a Production Sharing Agreement in relation to “Uzbekistan Mustakilligi” Investment Block with further exploration and development of "Mustakillikning 25 Yilligi" field with construction of a gas chemical complex in the Surkhandarya Region between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Consortium of Investors. Surhan Gas Chemical Operating Company was established as the Project Operator.

The purpose of the project is field development, wells drilling, production, treatment and processing of sour natural gas in the amount of 5 bln cub.m per year.

Over the 5 years of operation, Surhan Gas Chemical Operating Company has done significant work to bring the moment of full achievement of this purpose closer.

During the period 2018-2023 it is planned to develop “Mustakillikning 25 yilligi” (M-25) field with construction of a gas processing plant (GPP) with a capacity of 5 bln cub. m of gas per year and external infrastructure.

The task of field development set for Surhan Gas Chemical Operating Company, is notable for certain difficulties.

The first exploration work on “Gajak” area was carried out as early as 1938. In 1941, as a result of drilling an exploration well, the first signs of non-commercial oil were obtained. As for the gas-bearing deposits, they were discovered in 1976 in Jurassic carbonate deposits.

However, the high content of hydrogen sulfide (8%) in the reservoirs and the complexity of mining and geological conditions of the field required completely different technologies and equipment, which simply did not exist at that time.

Development of a promising field has received a new life in the conditions of independent Uzbekistan, which is striving to apply the best international experience in the country's economy in general and its oil and gas sector in particular.

As already noted, on April 5, 2017, the President of the country signed an Agreement that marked the beginning of a fundamentally new stage in development of “Mustakillikning 25 Yilligi” field.

In the same year, appraisal drilling was started from well No. 1-O, and in 2019, a commercial gas flow was obtained at the same well.

The best international experience is used for the field development, the international oil service company ERIELL Group is involved as the General Contractor, the experience of reputable transnational corporations HALLIBURTOON and Schlumberger is used, as a result of which field geophysical survey of directional wells with a deviation from the wellhead of more than 1000 meters was successfully carried out.

Surhan Gas Chemical Operating Company, working on development of a difficult field, not only implements the stages of the Project, but also creates a unique experience that is important for the entire oil and gas sector of Uzbekistan, increasing its efficiency and competitiveness.

Thus, for the first time in Uzbekistan, the concept of cluster drilling of wells was applied at the field as part of the whole project. It was here that records for daily drilling progress were repeatedly set.

Also, for the first time in the country, a well was drilled in the Lower Jura and Paleozoic deposits with a depth of 4749 m in conditions of high temperatures and high reservoir pressure. And this is not a complete list of unique developments, records, new techniques, the replenishment of which continues literally daily.

In general, the need for Surhan Gas Chemical Operating Company to constantly search for unique solutions at M-25 gave the Operator the opportunity to try out advanced process solutions that made it possible to significantly reduce the time and financial costs of construction.

In parallel, the Operator together with the EPC Contractor of the Project, Enter Engineering Pte LTD, are working on preparation of design documentation for the gas processing plant. In particular, in 2019, a license agreement was signed for the use of technologies of Shell Global Solutions International B.V., under which the licensor designed the main technological process for gas and sulfur treatment and selected the main process equipment for the GPP.

In cooperation with the large international engineering company Amec Foster Wheeler - Wood, the basic engineering solutions for the plant (FEED) were developed.

Today, the main process equipment is at the final stage of delivery, work on its installation has begun.

The gas processing plant includes more than 25 process units of the main production and off-site facilities, including a sulfur recovery unit using the Claus method with post-treatment using the SCOT method.

Surhan Gas Chemical Operating Company is celebrating its 5th anniversary with a solid background of experience in development of “Mustakillikning 25 Yilligi” field, formed in daily work, confidence in successful implementation of tasks of contributing to the growth of gas production, ensuring the energy security of our country and its economic growth.