Urengoy gas field was discovered in June 1966.[2] The first drilling hole hit gas on 6 July 1966 and the field started production in 1978. On 25 February 1981, Urengoy extracted its first one hundred billion cubic meters (1011 m3) of natural gas. From January 1984, Urengoy gas started to be exported to Western Europe through the Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhhorod pipeline. A fire hit the Urengoy in 2021 which led to an increase in natural gas prices.[1] In June 2022 the gas field caught fire again.[1]
Production
The Urengoyskoye conventional gas field has over ten trillion cubic meters (1013 m3) in total deposits.[1] It recovered by the end of 2021 more than 90% of its reserves. Its current output is six times lower than at its peak from 1985 to 1996, but this accounts still to 3% of the country's natural gas output.[3]
The Urengoy gas field extracts 230 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year, plus condensate and oil.[1] In September 2013, Gazprom announced that a total of 6.5 trillion cubic meters of gas had been produced.[4]