Page 11 - FSUOGM Week 07 2022

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM

Rosneft ramps up exploration

work at Vostok Oil

RUSSIA ROSNEFT plans to sink 13 exploration wells at Bakken tight oil play in the US over the past dec-
the Vostok Oil project in the Russian Arctic this ade. Rosneft estimates that Vostok Oil will be
Rosneft says production year, company vice-president for in-house ser- flowing 1mn bpd of oil by 2027 and as much as
is still on track to start vices Eric Liron told investors on February 11. 2mn bpd in 2030. But the company and its part-
in 2024. This marks a significant ramp-up of work ners are yet to take a final investment decision
at the project, which Rosneft is counting on to (FID) on development.
drive its production growth for decades to come. Rosneft closed a deal in October last year to
Only three exploration wells were drilled there in bring on board Vitol and Mercantile & Maritime
2021, although Rosneft also collected 500 square Energy as investors with a combined 5% interest.
km of 3D seismic data. 2D and 3D seismic sur- That followed its divestment of a 10% stake to
veying will continue this year. Trafigura last December.
Rosneft will also seek to clarify the produc- Announcing its operating results for 2021,
tive characteristics of Vostok Oil this year, by Rosneft also reported upgrading its resource
test-flowing muti-lateral, horizontal wells with estimates for the Vostok Oil fields. As of the end
the use of multi-stage hydraulic fracturing at the of last year, the fields are assessed to hold 42.2bn
flagship Paiyakhskoye field. Production is still on barrels of oil equivalent in 1P, 82.3bn boe in 2P
track to start in 2024, first vice-president Didier and 126.4bn boe in 3P reserves. In addition to oil,
Casimior said. some of this resource is natural gas, and Rosneft
Analysts have likened Vostok Oil’s scope to CEO Igor Sechin has expressed hope that Vostok
the development of the Western Siberian oil Oil could support an LNG export terminal with
basin in the 1970s and the development of the a capacity of up to 50mn tonnes per year. ™

Ukrainian refinery produces first

batch of A-98 gasoline

UKRAINE THE Kremenchug oil refinery in Ukraine has and Ukraine’s state-owned Naftogaz with 43%.
produced its first batch of A-98 gasoline, its oper- Ukraine is required to pay around $150mn to
Kremenchug, located ator Ukrtatnafta has reported. Tatneft for its complicit role in allowing Privat
in Ukraine's east, is the The batch of 2,000 tonnes was produced in and Naftogaz to wrest control of the plant.
country's only working early February, Ukrtatnafta said, without dis- Ukrtatnafta sources its oil from domestic
refinery. closing how much of the gasoline type would be fields but also receives some imports from Azer-
turned out on a regular basis. Production was baijan, the US and Libya.
possible thanks to the launch of a low-temper- Imports of A-98 and A-100 gasoline to the
ature isomerisation unit in 2020, as well as the Ukrainian market in 2021 increased by around
replacement of catalytic reforming systems last 8,2000 tonnes year on year to 23,800 tonnes. ™
year.
Kremenchug, located in Ukraine’s east, is the
country’s only working refinery. Constructed in
the 1960s, it has a nominal throughput capacity
of 18mn tonnes per year (360,000 barrels per
day, bpd), although its actual processing capa-
bility is understood to be much lower than this.
The refinery’s operator is Ukrtatnafta, ini-
tially a joint venture between Russia’s Tatneft
and Privat Group, a large Ukrainian industrial
holding controlled by oligarch Igor Kolomoysky.
Tatneft was forced out of the venture during a
hostile takeover in 2007, with Ukrtatnafta’s cur-
rent ownership split between Privat with 56%

Week 07 16•February•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11