OREANDA-NEWS. The Gazprom Neft Board of Directors has reviewed policy outcomes on the better utilisation of associated petroleum gas (APG) throughout 2015, as well as longer-term plans for 2016–18.

The commissioning of the Yuzhno-Priobskiy gas processing plant in September 2015 has seen current company-wide APG utilisation levels increase to 85 percent. Average annual utilisation levels reached 81 percent in 2015 (from 55 percent in 2010), with production of APG during this period, moreover, increasing almost two-fold, up to eight billion cubic metres, from 4.4 billion.

In 2015 Gazprom Neft also began construction of a 1.6 billion cubic metre capacity integrated gas treatment facility at the Badra field, Iraq, and a further seven billion capacity plant at the Novoportovskoye field.

Gazprom Neft’s total investment in APG utilisation projects reached RUB27.7 billion in 2015, a more than five-fold increase on 2014 levels. This greater investment is the result, predominantly, of significantly increased investment in the construction of gas infrastructure at the Novoportovskoye and Messoyakha fields, which are due to be brought into commercial production in 2016.

The Board of Directors also reviewed the company’s initiatives in operational and health, safety and the environment (HSE) risk management.

Gazprom Neft is committed to maintaining the highest possible standards in HSE. Risk management, fully consistent with Russian legislation, corporate standards and international best practice, remains an overriding priority for the company. Gazprom Neft is committed to the constant improvement of the working environment for its employees and contractors, and is actively involved in wide-ranging initiatives directed at minimising incident rates and reducing the risk of industrial injury.

The company has had an information management system, AZIMUT, in place since 2008, through which Gazprom Neft is able to undertake online monitoring, receiving immediate updates on incidents throughout its enterprises. This system allows greater transparency in recording incidents, in identifying the factors behind their occurrence, and in taking timely measures to prevent them.

A uniform approach to risk management, as exists within Gazprom Neft, is integral to the company’s broader risk management system — as a result of which the company has seen a significant reduction in incidents in recent years, including a five-fold reduction in the number of incidents at its installations and facilities, and a two-fold reduction in pipeline failure.