Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, July 13 -- Exxon Neftegaz Ltd. (ENL), operator of the Sakhalin-1 project in the Russian Far East, reported it and partners have drilled 10 extended-reach wells out of a total of 30 planned for Chayvo offshore oil and gas field.
The onshore Yastreb rig, operated by Parker Drilling Co., drilled the first 10 wells to the field 5-6 miles offshore in the Sea of Okhotsk. The horizontal wells are completed in Miocene sands at depths of about 8,500 ft.
The remaining 20 wells will be drilled from the Orlan concrete island drilling structure to be installed in Chayvo field before the end of summer.
ENL plans to produce 12.5 million tonnes/year of oil from Chayvo. After onshore processing near the Yastreb rig, oil will flow through a 24-in., 136-mile pipeline across the Tatar Strait to an export terminal near De Kastri.
ENL said production of natural gas would begin this fall, while oil production will begin in 2006.
The Sakhalin-1 project involves Chayvo, Odoptu, and Arkutun-Dagi fields, with total reserves estimated at 2.3 billion bbl of oil and 17.1 tcf of gas.
ENL holds 30% interest in the Sakhalin-1 project; other consortium members are Japan's Sakhalin Oil & Gas Development Co. Ltd. 30%, India's ONGC Videsh Ltd. 20%, and Russian firms Sakhalinmorneftegas-Shelf 11.5% and RN-Astra 8.5%.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].