42 years of gas extraction in the unique Urengoyskoye field

The enterprise “Gazprom dobycha Urengoy” celebrated the date that will forever be included in the historical chronicle of the enterprise. 42 years ago - on the 22nd of April of 1978 - the first industrial gas of Urengoy was delivered from gas treatment unit No.1 (UKPG-1), and development of Urengoyskoye oil, gas, condensate field was started.

Commissioning of the first gas field was preceded with the large-scale construction project. About 700 employees worked at the site simultaneously. An impossible task was set for the collective, as it seemed at the time: in just a year, instead of three years required on standards, it was necessary to build and launch a gas treatment unit with life-support facilities for the extractive field.

Many years later in his book the first director of the gas-extracting enterprise Ivan Nikonenko recalled these events as follows: “It is easy to make a step on a ready path. It is much more difficult, but also more honorable, to make your own path independently…Towns and settlements of the vast country were waiting for gas of Urengoy - and I had no right to refer to objective circumstances. I was assigned to do the impossible, and I was determined to succeed”.

In order to achieve tempos acceleration unprecedented in the world practice before, non-standard approaches and tools were required: construction methods, production technologies and algorithms for use of equipment. The first piles were driven in April of 1977, and assemblage of technological equipment was already started in summer of the same year. In February of 1978 construction of a technological workshop was completed and hydraulic tests were started. In March a flare was lifted, and gas was delivered to the site of UKPG-1, according to the design scheme for commissioning. UKPG-1 was officially input to operation on the day of birth of V. I. Lenin, on the 22nd of April, within the solemn ceremony.

The starting point became the beginning of new labor achievements for the collective of the enterprise. In the first month alone one milliard cubic meters of gas from Urengoy was delivered to the main pipeline. Five and a half years later there was a new record – 100 milliard cubic meters of gas were extracted. Then the amount was counted into trillions. In March of 2019 the total production of “Gazprom dobycha Urengoy” amounted to the record 7 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.

The “first-born” of Bolshoi Urengoy has a carefully preserved tradition - to celebrate the anniversary of gas delivery with the Honorary Watch. Therefore, many people gather together every year on the 22nd of April at the control panel of the enterprise, as the service for public relations and communication with mass media of “Gazprom dobycha Urengoy” informs. Veterans of the production and young professionals gather here to participate in the event. However, this year the tradition was broken for the first time due to the current epidemiological situation and the prohibition on mass events.

“Development of Urengoyskoye field was started exactly from the launch of the first production facility”, said Nikolay Pashchenko, the head of the workshop of the first gas facility, Urengoyskoye gas production directorate, “Gazprom dobycha Urengoy”. – “The current collective of gas-extracting workers continues the work of the pioneers, whose names are forever inscribed in the history of the company. The young generation, following the traditions of the best production school, performs their working duties at the high professional level. Even in today’s situation the enterprise is operating normally. At the same time, some of the personnel are on self-isolation, and the schedule of “day and night” shifts is changed to the “week-to-week” mode to minimize the danger of the virus spreading”.