Page 13 - FSUOGM Week 26
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FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM
Gazprom Neft says Chonsky still on track
RUSSIA
RUSSIA’S Gazprom Ne has rea rmed its com- mitment to the challenging Chonsky oil project in Eastern Siberia, a er achieving commercial oil ow at a second well.
In a recent statement, the oil arm of state- owned Gazprom reported the completion of a horizontal borehole at the Ignyalinskoye eld in the Irkutsk region – one of three deposits that comprise the Chonsky development. Following ten stages of hydraulic fracturing, the well owed oil a rate of 250 tonnes (1,830 barrels per day) – more than twice the ow rate of an earlier well drilled last year.
Chonsky is one of the largest hydrocarbon projects under way in Eastern Siberia, one of Russia’s largest but underexplored petroleum basins. According to Gazprom Ne , the elds hold 1bn tonnes (7.3bn barrels) of oil and 300bn cubic metres of gas in place.
“Obtaining the second commercial in ow here confirms the economic viability of this project,” the company’s deputy CEO, Vadim Yakovlev, commented. “Geological information collected over the past few years has allowed us to get the complete picture on the Chonsky blocks, and we plan to start pilot development as soon as 2020.”
Gazprom Neft acquired rights to three Chonsky elds – Ignyalinskoye, Yakunaiskoye and Timpuchikanskkoye – in 2008, launching
exploration several years later. e company had originally aimed to move forward with develop- ment much sooner, but delayed its plans in light of the elds’ geological complexity and the 2014 oil price crash.
e Eastern Siberia–Paci c Ocean (ESPO) pipeline – Russia’s main channel for oil exports to the Asia-Paci c region – passes just 100km from the Chonsky elds. As such, Gazprom Ne initially reached out to Asian partners to nance development and purchase the project’s future output. It entered into a joint venture with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. (JOGMEC) to explore and develop Ignyalinskoye in 2012, but three years later the Japanese rm withdrew from the project, citing the need to focus on its Sakhalin Island operations. Gazprom Ne also held talks around this time with Korean and Chi- nese companies, without success.
Recognising it would need to de-risk the project before securing investors, Gazprom Neft opted to proceed with development on its own. e company worked with US oil eld services giant Schlumberger to build a new seismic model of the Ignyalinskoye deposit, and then moved on to pilot drilling. Full-scale production at Ignyalinskoye is slated to start in 2024. Gazprom Ne still wants an international partner to join it before embarking on this stage, however.
Week 26 03•July•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P13
