Gazprom Neft develops Eastern Siberia

Gazprom Neft has actually discovered a new deposit in Eastern Siberia. The company has appraised an additional 100 million tons of oil and 175 billion cubic metres of gas while studying the Chonsk sectors, licenses for which were obtained several years ago. The State reserves committee has already booked these reserves. The South Korean KNOC can become the company’s partner in development of the deposits.

The State reserves committee has agreed to increase the extractable reserves of the Chonsk group of deposits (Vakunaisky, Tyimpuchikansky and Ignyalinsky subsoil sectors) developed by Gazprom Neft, the oil company reported on Friday. Previously the reserves were assessed in 25 million tons of oil and 50 billion cubic metres of gas, now they make up 125 million tons of oil and 225 billion cubic metres of gas (C1 and C2). Gazprom Neft notes, that studying of the sectors will go on and this will “allow to increase oil reserves considerably and make investment decisions important for successful involvement of these reserves into development”. Extraction is expected to start at least in three years.

The license for the Tyimpuchikansky sector was obtained in 2005, for Vakunaisky and Ignyalinsky sectors – in 2007. The deposits are situated 80 km from the Eatern Siberia – Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline, on the border of the Irkutsk region and Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). 57 wells are already drilled at the sectors of the group, ten more will be drilled in the next three years.

The South Korean KNOC can become the partner of Gazprom Neft in development of the deposits. In the middle of August ambassador of South Korea in Russia claimed, that the company would conclude an agreement about the joint extraction and processing of the energy resources. The involvement of KNOC can reduce time of putting of the deposits into operation, Valery Nesterov from Troika Dialog says.

In June Gazprom Neft and Shell arranged a discussion of the possible foundation of a JV for geological exploration, extraction and oil processing in Western Siberia, other regions of Russia and third countries. The companies are already cooperating in the framework of Salym Petroleum Development (SPD) leading extraction at Salym group of oil deposits in Western Siberia.

Gazprom Neft exists in Eastern Siberia only via Slavneft (belongs to it on parity with BP-TNK) which owns a license for Kuyumbinskoe deposit. Its reserves are assessed in 78 million tons. The deposit can be separated from Slavneft as a JV for development. The company can form its oil extraction sector in the region as potential of Eastern Siberia is not used completely, Mr. Nesterov notes. Oil companies need to fulfill the second line of ESPO, the analyst notes. However, the gas sales perspectives remain doubtful: the region doesn’t need such volumes and the parties can’t come to an agreement about export to China from nearby Kovykta for the next few years.

 

Source: http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1791579
Translated by Alexandra Utyasheva

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