Page 15 - FSUOGM Week 41 2019

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM
Gazprom Neft, Rosneft kick off deep oil drilling in Siberia
RUSSIA
Gazprom Neft is looking to tap deeper and more difficult oil.
GAZPROM Neft and Rosneft have kicked off development of deeper Achimov layers at the East-Messoyakhskoye field in the Russian Arctic, the former said on October 9.
The pair’s joint venture Messoyakhaneftegaz has commissioned a new 3,200-metre horizontal well at the Western Siberian field, Gazprom Neft said in a statement on October 10. A “gushing” oil flow with an initial rate of 435 tonnes (3,190 barrels per day) was achieved, it said.
The Achimov formation is a deep oil and gas horizon that spans across most of the Western Siberian basin. More than 200 fields have been found to have Achimov reservoirs, which com- prise sandstone with thin permeability under high pressure, making them challenging to develop.
“The drilling of the high-yield Achimov well was preceded by the collection and analysis of a large amount of geological information, the car- rying out of pilot-industrial work and explor- atory drilling,” Messoyakaneftegaz’s general director Victor Sorokin said in a statement. Achi- mov oil represents a “new stage in the develop- ment of the East-Messoyakhskoye field,” he said.
East-Messoyakhskoye was brought on stream in 2016 and flowed 4.5mn tonnes (90,000 bpd) last year.
The Achimov formation has only been exploited at a handful of sites, despite its size. But producers are now focusing more on its develop- ment as shallower deposits grow mature.
Gazprom Neft has also launched a project with Novatek to drill dozens of Achimov wells at the giant Urengoi gas field. The pair intend to sink at least six boreholes this year, followed by 32 in 2020, 21 in 2021 and 31 in 2022, according to tender documents published in August. They drill their first 5,624-metre Achimov well earlier that month, achieving a daily flow rate of more than 1mn cubic metres of gas and 500 tonnes (4,500 barrels per day) of condensate.
Gazprom Neft’s parent company Gazprom is producing gas at two other Achimov blocks. At one of them it is partnered Germany’s Winter- shall Dea. It aims to close a deal to bring on board Austria’s OMV to help develop two more blocks by the end of this year.
Gazprom Neft is also targeting liquid hydro- carbons at some of Gazprom’s largest gas depos- its. The company has secured approval from its parent company to assess prospects for the pro- duction of gas condensate at the Bovanenkovo and Kharasaveyskoye fields – Gazprom’s biggest production assets on the Yamal Peninsula, its first deputy chairman Vadim Yakovlev said on October 10, according to Kommersant.
The next step will involve Gazprom Neft drilling two wells at each field and reinterpret- ing existing seismic data. This will help it clarify geological structures and evaluate production potential. If results are encouraging, Gazprom Neft will be invited to help develop these con- densate resources. ™
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