OREANDA-NEWS  On 26 September NOVATEK (hereinafter “NOVATEK” and/or the “Company”) announced that it completed and initially launched the second phase of development at its Yurkharovskoye field. The second stage includes two processing trains: a natural gas separation plant and a condensate preparation unit with an initial capacity of 20 mmcm/day. The total rated capacity of the second phase will exceed seven billion cubic meters (“bcm”) per annum.
 
As a part of the second phase, NOVATEK has built and connected an 87 kilometers (“km”) natural gas pipeline with a 1,420 millimeters diameter to the Unified Gas Supply System, owned and operated by OAO Gazprom. The new pipeline connection will enable NOVATEK to transport from the field up to 34 bcm of natural gas on an annual basis.
 
According to NOVATEK’s CEO, Leonid Mikhelson, “The Company has spent a significant amount of capital over the past eighteen to twenty-four months on infrastructure-related projects as part of our strategy to increase production at our core fields. The completion and commissioning of the new production facilities will enable NOVATEK to achieve its intended growth targets.”
 
With the launching of the second phase facilities at the Yurkharovskoye field the Company plans to increase daily natural gas production to more than 100 mmcm per day, or by more than 20%, as well as proportionately increase gas condensate yields.