7 million tons of gas condensate, is to be delivered to the Far East for gasification purposes as well as to an LNG plant to be constructed near Vladivostok. Photo: Andrey Ivlev, Chief Engineer for Subsea Wellhead Equipment at Severnoye Siyaniye SSDR. Photo: cementing unit.Work on the platform is not easy and the workers need to eat well.In the local slang it is called a ‘frog’. He found himself on the vessel seduced by the romance of the sea.To preserve the fish and mollusk breeding areas and not to muddy the bottom waters all the sludge as well as other waste is taken away in containers to a special onshore disposal base. We are going home, while the drilling rig crew is to finish the construction of the exploratory well at the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field.There are four lifeboats on the SSDR to carry 64 people each. Currently, Severnoye Siyaniye is drilling its first exploratory well 3,200 meters deep.Before getting onboard the Fos Universe ship of a Panamian company we had to go through customs and border control as well as all the procedures required for crossing the state border, as the operations area we were heading for was located outside the Russian territorial waters. That is why all sorts of dishes are cooked here with no emphasis on anything particular, as the crew is multinational. It takes from 2 to 4 days to install such an SSDR depending on the conditions, and the process is very painstaking. Photo: Gazprom’s Press Service representative Dmitry Martynenko.A shift lasts for a month and that is why comfortable conditions are created on the platform.Gazprom website editorial boardYou can find large size images in Photos. We visited the Severnoye Siyaniye (Northern Lights) semi-submersible drilling rig (SSDR) – one of the several rigs constructed over the last years on Gazprom’s order at Vyborg Shipyard. However, Severnoye Siyaniye is designed to operate in harsh climatic conditions, and that is why it doesn’t stop its operation even China Check Valves Manufacturers https://www.xiervalve.com/product/upvc-one-way-valve-butterfly-valve/upvc-new-check-valve/check-valves.html when the sea is very high. As the floating rig is power-propelled, it can also move by itself.The aim of drilling is to prove the reserves and update the geological structure of the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field.By the way, before our arrival one of the vessels couldn’t unload because of the high sea and had to float nearby for several hours waiting for the sea to calm. The annular space at the wellhead is sealed with the help of special sealing rings. Although during the whole drilling process there is drilling fluid in the well, which creates back pressure in the wellbore. He was invited specially for the Russian shift workers whose stomachs are not used to Asian cuisine. It serves as a safety valve allowing no gas discharge like a cork in a bottle of champagne.At first, a pilot wellbore of the smallest diameter is drilled (215. Our journey started from the port of Korsakov not far from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.After the safety meeting we got acquainted with the operating process.Once the well is drilled and geophysical research is conducted, the production column is set and well testing begins.Severnoye Siyaniye is managed by two men.With the help of the tugs the SSDR is positioned in relation to cardinal points based on the results of meteorological studies and is fixed by 8 anchors weighing 15 tons each – two anchors for each of the platform angles. Ships do not moor at the platform – they need to have the system of dynamic positioning. The photo shows 8th grade driller Evgeny Tkachenko controlling the exploratory well drilling process. That is to say, there are twice as many places available compared to the permissible number of people on the platform in order to evacuate the personnel from one of the boards if necessary. For the moody Sea of Okhotsk force 8 storms are not uncommon, and sometimes there are even force 10 storms. The photo shows the master control room or, as sailors call it, the captain’s bridge.Once the drilling is finished and all the necessary data is obtained, cement plugs are placed in the spots where the perforator worked, drilling fluid is pumped into the well and a corrosion cap is placed on the wellhead.Photo: Chief Engineer for Shipboard Equipment Yury Chernov and Auxiliary Operator for Boiler Equipment Viktor Grigoryev monitoring the operation of respective SSDR systems. In our presence drilling tools were lowered 1,750 meters deep with the help of DP stands.A huge crane takes pipes from racks and delivers them to the rig floor.During the drilling process much sludge is brought to the surface from the soil together with the drilling fluid which is then desludged through a special vibrating shaker (in the photo).At first, it all seemed to be a fascinating sea cruise.Ready to leave the platform, we suddenly saw a smiley face in the engine space where the main diesel-driven power generators are situated. It was a bit scary – after all, it is not a ride in an amusement park where such baskets are securely fixed.Deputy Chief Engineer Roman Okishev (Gazprom Geologorazvedka) says that sea soils are not more complex than, for instance, in Western Siberia. Photo: 8th grade drillers Sergey Makarov (front) and Evgeny Tkachenko (back).Yury cooked the most delicious dishes for us. This problem, as we have already mentioned, is solved by remotely operated vehicles that make it possible to see everything under the sea on the drilling rig monitors.But it turned out to be nothing of the kind… After departing the Aniva Bay and entering the Sea of Okhotsk the ship started rocking back and forth.The gas of the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field, with its current C1+C2 reserves estimated at 563. Marine operations start (towing, mooring and weighing, independent relocation) and the SSDR Captain Valery Solomatin (center) takes the lead. In case of alarm every crew member has to put on a drysuit and a life vest and before boarding a lifeboat to turn over a tag with its vessel number so that once the crew has boarded the lifeboats, it would be clear who is to be searched for on the platform before the evacuation. Then the column is lowered down the hole and is cemented in place, and drilling for a smaller diameter column starts deeper, and so on.All the blowout prevention equipment nippled up on the wellhead rises from 1. Photo: gas carrier fueling up with liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the Sakhalin LNG plant. In industry slang several twisted drill pipes are called a DP stand.9 billion cubic meters of gas and 71. The sea depth in this region is about 146 meters.In another platform compartment the geological and technical research specialists monitor sensors placed all over the drilling site to control the technological parameters. Photo: geological engineer Alexander Khaustov (front) and geophysical engineer Viktor Balaba (back). Photo: 5th grade cook Yury Gomenyuk serving lunch at the SSDR galley.A lifeboat is basically a capsule that can go through fire. The pipes are made of a very thick metal specially used for deep-well drilling. During the 2013 navigation period Gazprom is drilling two exploratory wells at the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field offshore the Sea of Okhotsk (Sakhalin III project).Before the SSDR is installed, the seabed is investigated by remotely operated vehicles (ROV), or robots in other words, in order to exclude the presence of scrap metal, shipwrecks, boulders and gravels that could appear in the time period between the survey procedure and the rig installation.An offshore well geometry is represented by casing columns run in and cemented consecutively from a bigger diameter to a smaller one. It all takes place during two minutes approximately. On the left is Chief Mate Dmitry Karpov, on the right – Second Mate Andrey Nikolichev.In addition, there are 8 inflatable liferafts to carry 35 people each.The storm (which, in fact, can hardly be called a storm in terms of the Sea of Okhotsk) was rated by the local seadogs at about force 3. The cooks work around the clock in two shifts.And so our tour to Severnoye Siyaniye ended.A lifting crane picked up the basket, raised it high in the air……and delicately put it down in the center of a helideck where we were heartily welcomed by the crew. It is aimed at proving the presence of near-bottom gas and determining the setting depth of the first casing column.We had to ascend from the ship to the platform almost as big as a football field and as high as a 43-storey house (the platform height from the lower part of the pontoon to the top of the derrick is 128 meters) in a six-seat basket. All of them were very friendly and we had no difficulties communicating even in our broken English. After the end of testing the drilling fluid is pumped into the well and gas is squeezed back into the formation.Different diameter casing pipes are used during well construction (the deeper into the well, the smaller the pipe diameter, as the well design resembles that of a telescope).The platform arrived at the drilling site from the port of Kholmsk (Sakhalin Region) with the help of two tugs.The platform also acts as a mini-port serving up to 3–4 vessels a day. Photo: ship’s doctor Evgeny Siver. A kind of a farewell boost of energy for us.Other exclusive photo essays. When the drilling rig changes its location, the whole drilling crew goes ashore, and only the runner crew stays.These robots are engaged in the drilling process, too. The main difficulty is that in the sea one can’t see either a downhole (well bottom), or a well mouth (its top). On the left of the photo is Sergey Sitnik, Head of the PR and Media Relations Group at Gazflot.Most of us preferred to endure those not too pleasant feelings in such cabins.9 millimeters) about 600 meters deep. It was conducted by Second Mate Andrey Burkov.The crew was mostly Indonesian. Specialists accurately locate the positioning point by satellite according to the preset coordinates that are determined as part of a survey procedure. Then well pressure is reduced, gas inflow is induced and equipment onboard the SSDR records the gas flow rate (volume of gas produced from the well per unit time) and gas parameters.September 27, 2013Gazprom has a unique experience of operations on the Russian continental shelf. Unfortunately, we didn’t want to eat that much due to the ship motions. There is a lounge, a gym, a cinema hall, a sauna and, of course, a medical room.When desludged, the drilling fluid is once more pumped into the well with the help of the pumps you can see in the photo. Its fuel tank is sufficient for 24 hours of run-time without refueling, and it can move at a speed of 6 knots and tug rafts, too.During this process the platform is towed into position by two steamships.6th grade driller assistants Shamil Uvaisov and Sergey Potapov are pulling down the hand-held slips that additionally clamp the pipe in order to fix it in the rotor. Today we would like to acquaint you with a complicated process of marine drilling.8 to 2 meters above the sea level. It can drill wells up to 7,500 meters deep at sea depths from 70 to 500 meters. Photo: press tour participants.If the pilot wellbore drilling goes well, drilling starts for 762- or 914-millimeter casing pipes of the first casing column. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are scheduled, but if anyone gets hungry, he won’t be left without a sandwich and tea. Photo: Weatherford service company representative checking the hydraulic tongs. Every day about 200 meters is drilled.The Severnoye Siyaniye SSDR is capable of constructing exploratory and production wells in the temperature range between −30 to +45 °C.And somebody was watching movies in the local cinema hall.First off is a safety meeting. If there are several potentially productive horizons in the formation, the testing is conducted from bottom upwards. In addition, anti-sweep protection is installed on top in case of vessels passing, boulders and stones hitting.We got to the site in the same way, as do the shift workers who work there.Their task is not to miss indicators of abnormal gas blowout.Drilling data is displayed in the driller’s cabin where looking at the monitors he controls the bit (a rock destruction tool) load, the desired drilling speed, etc. They are also used for continuously monitoring the wellhead condition.The photo shows the so-called spider, which holds one pipe with one ‘tentacle’ and grabs another one with the second ‘tentacle’ twisting them together. The SSDR Head Alexander Demchenko (right) manages the crew from the moment of positioning the SSDR at a drilling site till the moment of repositioning. There are all the things needed in a lifeboat, namely, a survival kit, an emergency kit, a wireless station, etc.A special mood was set by our seacook Yury Stakhov who appeared to be an artist by trade.And finally this immense facility appeared on the horizon like a mirage. Perforators are lowered into the column to chamber holes in its sides.Drillers control the process with a joystick as if playing a computer game and talking on the two-way.We were to ride this ship for a bit more than a day, as the way from the port of Korsakov to the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field is long, namely 824 kilometers or 445 nautical miles.