Проблемно-исследовательский проект в обучении гибкому иноязычному чт

Log field and several other fields. In 1957, Perm oil workers produced the one millionth ton of oil, and in 1960 the two million mark was reached in the Kama River Valley.

Another large oil field, Bakhmetyevo, was discovered in the Stalingrad Region in 1951, just north of Zhirnovsk, and put into operation in 1955. Ktenovka field was opened in 1962. These three fields determined the oil output level at the Zhirnovsk Oil and Gas Production Administration for most of the next 45 years. By 1955, the region had already caught up with several older oilproducing regions in the country in terms of crude production and occupied seventh place in the USSR. Before long, the unique Korobkovo oil and gas field was discovered and turned out to be the largest in the oil and gas history of the Volgograd Region. Twelve productive oil and gas formations were uncovered in the section of this field in the depth interval from 650 to 5750 feet. Production testing began in September 1955, and by the end of that year, the section had produced more than 1100 tons of oil and 145 million cubic feet of associated gas. On December 29, 1955, the independent Korobkovo oil field was created.

The average annual growth in oil production in the Volga-Urals oil and gas province from 1950 to 1965 was more than four times higher than the combined output of the Azerbaijan SSR, the North Caucasus, Ukraine, Georgia, the Central Asian republics, the Komi SSR, and the Sakhalin Region. The explicit use of innovative approaches to meeting complex production challenges was instrumental in the efficient and rapid development of the “Second Baku” from its first days of operation, and as a result, oil production increased 62-fold over a 20-year period.

A powerful oil base was thus created in the Volga-Urals region, producing 78% of the country’s total oil supply. The center of the USSR oil industry moved from the southern part of the country to the Volga-Urals region. Petroleum products from the regional branches of the “Second Baku” were shipped to Kazakhstan, Siberia, the Far East, and elsewhere. Transportation expenses amounted to several billion rubles each year. In an effort to lower costs, the Tuymaza-Omsk 2, Omsk-Irkutsk, Ufa-Omsk 2, and Novosibirsk-Irkutsk pipelines were planned to come online between 1956 and 1960.

More targets were set for the USSR oil industry at the 20th CPSU Congress in 1956. Directives issued by the Congress called for a significant increase in the oil industry’s growth rates compared to several other heavy industries. Oil production was to grow by 91% over five years to 149 million tons in 1960, while the production of light petroleum products and lubricants was to increase by 100% and 80%, respectively. According to Party directives, proven oil reserves were to increase 65-70%, while proven natural gas reserves were to grow 85-

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90% compared with the figures from the first half of the decade. The “Second Baku” once again bore the brunt of meeting the targets.

In summarizing the impressive accomplishments of Soviet oil workers in the Volga-Urals region during this period, special mention should be made of the significant contributions made by the talented production organizers Aleksey Shmaryov (1913-1993) and Valentin Shashin (1916-1977), who were directors at Tatneft, as well as Bashneft association Director Stepan Kuvykin (1903-1974).

Thanks to the Volga-Urals oil and gas province, oil production plans that seemed inflated or unrealistic to some scientists were not only fulfilled but exceeded. The production target of 66 million tons, announced by Joseph Stalin in 1946 for the three postwar five-year periods, was met and exceeded within ten years. By 1960, when this figure was originally supposed to have been reached, oil production had exceeded Stalin's plan target by almost 150% and amounted to 163 million tons.

The accelerated creation of a reliable energy system, transportation routes, and machine-building industry coincided with the development of oil production and refining in the Volga-Urals region. The oil industry was essentially the foundation for creating a complex industrial infrastructure in regions that had previously been predominantly agrarian. An engineering and scientific elite took shape at this time, and skilled personnel were trained for professions that had previously been under-manned.

Over the next twenty years, the Soviet Union steadily increased its share of global oil production (from 5.5% in 1945 to 16% in 1965), remaining firmly in second place throughout the world (behind the US), and was Europe's top oil producer by a large margin. Particular mention should be made of the fact that oil production grew at a much faster pace during this period than did the economy as a whole. In addition, the USSR fuel balance had undergone significant changes: oil and gas accounted for 42.4% in 1962, as compared to 23.5% in 1955.

Text 7

Black Gold of the Kama Area

Oil of Russia. 2010. No. 4

Andrey Osokin

LUKOIL-PERM: 15 years in the forefront of oil production. In November 1995, a subsidiary company of LUKOIL was set up to operate in the upstream sector of the Perm Territory. In 1996, the fledgling company produced its first

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million tons of oil. Today, LUKOIL-PERM is the biggest oil and gas producer in the Perm Territory with an annual oil output of over 12 million tons.

A bit of background

The Perm Territory is one of only a few regions in Russia in which all the sectors of the oil and gas industry are most fully represented in the industrial potential of the area. The vertical oil industry structure in the Kama area began taking shape as soon as development of the Perm oil fields was launched and over time has reached technological completion.

Chance discoveries of “oil springs” in the Kama area have been known since the 18th century, but it was 1929 before the huge Volga-Urals oiland gasbearing province was discovered and became known as the “Second Baku”.

In the 1950s, a concept was developed for seeking oil and gas fields in the Carbonian and Devonian formations underlying the Perm deposits, which heralded the age of geological discoveries. New oil production processes were introduced to put on stream new fields and entire oil producing regions.

In the 1990s, which saw the transition to the market economy, the oil industry experienced a sharp decline in the volume of production and rate of return (to 1.3%), a rapidly progressing excess of liabilities over circulating assets and nonpayment across the board.

On September 1, 1995, the Perm oil producers joined JSC LUKOIL. Integration into the industry leader helped the revival of the Perm oil complex and created prospects for systemic, dynamic and innovative development.

Oil production leader

LUKOIL-PERM today unites the production assets of the LUKOIL Group in the Perm Territory and produces oil and gas in 26 administrative districts of the region.

LUKOIL-PERM holds 123 subsoil licenses for hydrocarbon exploration and production. Oil is produced from some 6500 production wells located in 134 fields.

Last year saw the launch of oil production on fields situated beneath the Verkhnekamskoye field of potassium and magnesium salts, which are considered to be among the most promising in the region in terms of reserves increment and enhanced oil production. The company's fruitful work during 2009 rightfully resulted in LUKOIL-PERM being recognized as the best LUKOIL oil and gas production unit for the fourth time running.

In early 2009, an anticrisis program was developed and implemented in all companies of the LUKOIL Group in the Perm Territory with an eye to restraining operating costs. Thanks to effective drilling and startup of new facilities, the company's investment program amounted to 12.5 billion rubles, as against 2005,

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when it was only 4.5 billion rubles. Moreover, the company increased new well drilling by 20 000 meters per year.

LUKOIL-PERM is producing over 12 million tons of oil a year – the figure going up by an average of 3% and focusing on increasing its hydrocarbon reserves. Over the last decade, more than 40 oil fields have been discovered in the region, with reserves of about 30 million tons, and the effort in this area is not slackening.

The task in hand is to bring oil production in 2010 up to 12.5 million tons per year. The plan provides for increasing reserves by nearly 5 million tons and resources by more than 5 million tons.

Growth points

Perm oil producers are also increasing the rate of oil and gas production by using the latest enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods.

In the first six months of 2010, production enhancement methods brought in an additional 130 000 tons of oil. The greatest increment was provided by physical methods, such as ratholing and hydrofracing (over 80 000 tons). EOR methods produced an additional 25 000 tons of hydrocarbons, and chemical and hydromatic methods another 25 000 tons. Overall, the company plans to add over 400 000 tons of oil to its production figure by using EOR methods in 2010. By 2013, EOR methods are expected to account for 25% of the company's total production, with the carryover effect factored in.

In terms of the average annual volumes of oil recovery, the region currently has sufficient supplies of oil to last more than 40 years. However, considering the rise in hydrocarbon production, LUKOIL-PERM is focusing particularly on prospecting. The company's precisely thought out strategy in this sphere will allow it, by 2017, to add another 71 million tons of commercial oil reserves to the existing confirmed reserves of 470 million tons.

Focus on energy efficiency

LUKOIL-PERM personnel are actively introducing energy-saving technologies. In just the first six months of 2010, the company has saved 19.6 million kWh of electric power, thereby cutting its costs by 40.8 million rubles.

The company has had its own energy-saving program for many years now, the main spheres being optimization of energy capacities, introduction of ener- gy-efficient units, elimination of energy facilities and a change in the field development plans. The effectiveness of the program's implementation is proved not only by economic calculations. Recently, LUKOIL-PERM was recognized as the winner of the all-Russia competition “Best Russian enterprises. Dynamics, efficiency and responsibility – 2009” in the category “For implementation of energy-saving technologies and energy efficiency of production”, in which hun-

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dreds of representatives of various industries throughout Russia took part. The competition judges duly appraised the merits of the company in developing and implementing promising energy projects.

LUKOIL-PERM is developing a multitude of small fields where energy supplies often cost it somewhat more than centralized supplies to the bigger project sites. In an effort to resolve this problem, the company has turned to electric power plants capable of using a local resource – associated gas. Thus, at the end of last year, on the site of the Shemeti preliminary water removal unit of the UralOil subsidiary, the Kama area's first 130 kW microturbine power plant was built, capable, without a special gas treatment system, of processing all the associated gas from the Shemetinskoye field – about 500 000 m3 a year. The energy thus generated is used to power the pumps of the reservoir pressure maintenance system. This allows the company to save more than 2 million rubles a year net of payments for excessive emissions.

The high degree of automation and reliable safety systems, which redirect a flow of light hydrocarbons to the gas flare not currently in use, allow the electric power plant to operate virtually autonomously. The Shemeti unit will soon also find a use for the heat discharged during combustion of the gas. After the reconstruction of the preliminary water removal unit planned for this year, it will be used in the crude oil treatment process.

In the next few years, LUKOIL-PERM intends to start up another seven such units. Construction is soon to be launched in the Krasnovishersky district of a 4 MW power generating set to supply own electricity to six fields at once. At the Osa oil treatment facility it is planned to introduce a Renkine power generating unit cycle. In comparison with traditional ones, it has a number of advantages – a high efficiency index, environmental friendliness, a long service life, cost effectiveness, and operating reliability. It will allow associated gas to be transformed not only into electric power, but also into heat for the entire production site.

Questions of energy efficiency and energy saving hold important places in the company's plans. In 2010, it intends to save some 47.1 million kWh of electric power and 583.6 Gcal of heat power to a total sum of over 80 million rubles. At the same time, the growth rate of hydrocarbon production will remain very high.

LUKOIL-PERM is continuing its planned work and stable development in spite of the global crisis. The company's successes provide further proof of its firm foundations based on the experience of many generations of oil producers and the professionalism of the work team.

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Text 8

Father of Perm Oil

Oil of Russia. 2009. No. 2

Olga Aleksandrova

At the beginning of this year, the Russian geological community marked the 135th anniversary of the birth of the famous Russian geologist, Prof. Pavel Preobrazhensky (1874-1944), the discoverer of oil in the Prikamye region.

Early life

Pavel Preobrazhensky was born in January 1874 into a priest's family in the small district town of Demyansk in the Novgorod Guberniya. After finishing the Tashkent Grammar School with a Gold Medal, in 1892 he entered the mathematical physics faculty at Moscow University, but two years later transferred to the St. Petersburg Mining Institute. This decision was largely connected with his fascination with geology, which he wanted to study directly in the field and not quiet university lecture halls.

The study course of a highly qualified mining specialist at the Institute covered the most diverse disciplines. Alongside higher mathematics, physics and chemistry, the students studied geography, botany, zoology and other subjects. General engineering disciplines were also studied extensively: analytical and applied mechanics, hydraulics, and steam engine course. And, of course, the main place in the study program belonged to the geological disciplines. Pavel Preobrazhensky's acquaintance with the main rock-forming minerals, types of rocks' modes of arrangement and structures as well as their mineral and chemical composition, grew into a genuine need and striving for further and greater knowledge.

Student Preobrazhensky's devotion to and fascination with geology were noted and, after successfully graduating from the Mining Institute, he was put at the disposal of the Chief Mining Administration of the Mining Department and subsequently ”sent to make a geological study of the gold-bearing areas of Siberia”.

Mining engineer Preobrazhensky worked for almost ten years in the Lena gold-bearing region. In 1907, he was appointed Court Counselor and awarded the Order of St. Stanislav II, and was then invited to work on the Geological Committee of Russia.

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Discovery of the Solikamsk potassium deposits

In July 1920, the famous Russian geologist, Prof. Pavel Preobrazhensky (1874-1944) was sent by convoy to Perm, as stated in the Extraordinary Revolutionary Tribunal ruling, “to serve his sentence of forced labor until the end of the war”.

At the very first meeting with the rector of Perm University Nikolay Ottokar, Pavel Preobrazhensky was offered the position of lecturer in mineralogy. Two years later, the control exercised by the judicial authorities was mitigated and he was confirmed in the post of professor in the Chair of Mineralogy and, from 1924, he headed two departments at the same time – geology and mineralogy. Also during these years, he read a course of lectures on geology at the Urals Mining Institute in Sverdlovsk.

In 1924, the Urals Department of the Geological Committee asked him to study the archives of the former owners of the Perm mining and salt production works, the businessmen Stroganov, Lazarev, Ryazantsev and others, to find any information about minerals in the region. Soon afterwards, Prof. Pavel Preobrazhensky gave a comprehensive report to the associates of the Urals Department of the Geological Committee, justifying the promising nature of the Solikamsk area with respect to potassium salts and proposed a plan of exploration drilling.

Although his sentence term had done to an end and he could have taken up the post of Senior Geologist in the Section for Surveying of Non-ore Minerals of the Leningrad Department of the Geological Committee, he decided to finish his business in Perm, i.e., to carry out exploration drilling where the previous Solikamsk works had been located and, in the spring of 1925, geological exploration was launched. He managed to obtain a Kaliks drill rig, and a mobile steam power unit called a locomobile was delivered from Leningrad. The required drilling equipment and tools came from the Caucasus and the Urals. It was just as difficult to determine the location of the first well. By generalizing and analyzing all the geological data, Prof. Pavel Preobrazhensky chose for this purpose the outskirts of the town of Solikamsk on the banks of the Usolka, which flows into the Kama.

At the beginning of September 1925, drilling was launched of the first well. On the night of October 6, 1925, the first drilled well discovered, between the depths of 91.7 and 92.3 m, a thick seam of potassium salts (this was secondary sylvinite with a KCl content of 17.9%) and well No. 2, located 1.5 km away, revealed a potassium deposit of over 110 m. Subsequently, all the wells drilled in 1926, one after the other indicated the presence of big potassium deposits. That was how the famous Verkhnekamskoye potassium salts deposit was discovered.

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Pavel Preobrazhensky said later that the drilling produced “astounding results”: in both Solikamsk and Berezniki, 19 wells revealed major seams of carnallite and sylvinite.

The Perm oil sensation

The drilling was carried out under difficult conditions. In his journal, Prof. Preobrazhensky wrote: “The drill team was issued short fur coats and felt boots in cold weather and warm log huts were built close to the rigs for the workers to warm themselves up. During the coldest weather, dropping to minus 48 degrees, drilling work had to be suspended for several days”.

In order to determine more precisely the boundaries of the discovered deposit, Preobrazhensky chose the twentieth drill site in Verkhne-Chusovskiye Gorodki, where cooking salt had been mined as far back as the time of the Stroganovs.

On October 18, 1928, the team under drill foreman Prokopy Pozdnyakov began drilling this well on the bank of the River Rassoshka, the place from which Ataman Ermak supposedly left to conquer Siberia. A large part of the work was carried out by the column drilling method, with the rock core being raised to the surface. At a depth of 155 m, the drilling passed through rocks where there might have been potassium salts, but no signs of these were found. Yet Preobrazhensky insisted on continuing the work and, on March 30, 1929, at a depth of 328-331 m, a column of rock was raised that had cracks and signs of oil and from which gas was discharged. Moreover, on April 16, 1929, from a depth of 365-371 m, rock was obtained with the greatest petroleum impregnation, which was registered in the drilling log as “an abundant film of oil with bubbles of gas”. That was how the “big oil of Prikamye” gave the first signs of itself.

The news of the oil prospects of the Prikamye area soon reached Moscow and, on May 7, 1929, the Presidium of the Supreme Council for the National Economy adopted a Resolution on Oil Exploration in the Urals. Minutes No. 17 of the meeting stressed: “To take note that, during drilling of an exploratory well by the Geological Committee for potassium salts on the River Chusovaya, 10 versts from Komarikhinskaya railway station, the existence of porous limestones containing oil and gas was discovered at a depth of 350 to 400 m... To note the tremendous significance of the discovery of oil in the mid-Urals, in the area where a number of metal works are located. To recognize it as necessary to undertake extensive prospecting for new oil fields in the Urals”.

A telegram sent by the North Caucasus territorial committee of miners to the Urals Regional Committee in May 1929 stated: “The newly discovered oil region is of exceptional significance for the Soviet Union. In a desire to develop the region rapidly, in conjunction with Grozneft, we hereby establish patronage

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over the new region. We send the requisite equipment and 49 skilled workers. Send us a telegram of your greatest needs. We will do all we can to help”.

The first testing of well No. 20, carried out in June, showed that the flowing production rate of the well was 40 tons a day. On August 15, 1929, the well was started up and a new number – No. 101 assigned to it. It should be noted that, over the 11 years of its existence (up until October 1940), it produced about 8000 tons of oil.

Highly appraising the announcement from Perm, the well-known oil scientist, Academician Ivan Gubkin, stressed: “Here we may have oil reserves of inestimable value to industry. On the basis of preliminary data, of all alone there is undoubtedly a quantity of industrial significance on the slopes of the Urals”.

When the first drilling office in the East of Russia, Uralneft, was set up in 1929, headed by the experienced drilling expert Roman Buchatsky, a broad front of drilling work was launched at Verkhne-Chusovskiye Gorodki. Production wells were started up one after another. By the winter of 1929-1930, 29 wells were in operation in the vicinity of Verkhne-Chusovskiye Gorodki, two in the area of Kizel-Gubakha and one each in Cherdyn, Usolye, Shumkovo and UstKishert. The Soviet government highly appraised the activities of Pavel Preobrazhensky and in 1932 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

In the following years, Pavel Preobrazhensky concentrated his scientific activities on developing a methodology for seeking and surveying salt deposits, initiated application of gravity prospecting for salt deposit structures, supported comprehensive use of sales for extraction of bromine, boron, rubidium and other chemical elements. In 1935, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (geology and mineralogy). In 1937, he participated as a delegate in the 17th session of the International Geological Congress, held in Moscow. He became one of the organizers of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Mineral Salt Production and, from 1939 to 1941, he worked as Chief Geologist of this scientific institution.

During the period of 1943-1944, he held the post of Deputy Director of the State Institute for Mining and Chemical Raw Materials in Moscow and in January 1944, was awarded the Order of Merit. Prof. Pavel Preobrazhensky died on September 10, 1944 in Moscow and his funeral was attended by colleague geologists, lecturers and students of the Moscow Mining Institute.

Stressing the special significance of Pavel Preobrazhensky's contribution to the discovery of the Perm oil, the well-known Russian geologist, Prof. Pavel Sofronitsky, noted: “The discovery of the Verkhne-Chusovskaya oil gave an impetus to development of oil exploration between the Volga and the Urals. The oil industry of the Perm Region began with the Verkhne-Chusovskiye production units”.

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Text 9

Oil Wealth of the Kama Region

Oil of Russia. 2011. No. 4

Natalia Solovyova

LUKOIL-PERM takes lead in geological exploration and high technology. One of the main tasks facing the geological service of LUKOIL-PERM is to maintain the company's mineral resource base. Geological exploration is therefore focused on selecting the most promising areas based on perceptions of the area's geological structure, research results and degree of exploration maturity. Over the last 10 years, the company has discovered 40 oil fields with reserves of over 26 million tons. The planned

Time for new discoveries

It is over 80 years since the first oil was discovered in the Kama region, which is now one of the most thoroughly geologically explored territories. Indeed, the geological map

of Perm Territory shows that it is literally permeated by oil fields associated with the Kama-Kinel system of depressions stretching from Bashkiria to the Northern Urals.

Research has shown that, in the Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian oiland gas-bearing series, there remain quite a few hydrocarbon occurrences. These are small anticlinal traps missed by drilling or seismological surveys, as well as less studied traps of a nonanticlinal type. Under these conditions, the main focus is on improving structure treatment by applying new exploration methods. For instance, in the north of the territory, gravimetric studies coupled with 2D/3D seismics are effective for identification purposes, whereas, in the southern regions, the priority in further treatment attaches to seismological surveys coupled with structural parametric drilling. Since 2006, these methods have provided for highly reliable identification and treatment of small-scale and low-relief structures for prospect, evaluation and exploration drilling, and for discovering fields with reserves of about 1 million tons every year.

Not to rest on one's laurels is one of the rules followed by the company. The high indicators of geological exploration work merely testify to the need for further improvement of the prospecting and exploration complex. To this end, in

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