Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Oct 26 -- The first well has been drilled in Russia's Verkhnechonsky oil and gas field by Prikaspiiskburneft Co. as part of a 3-year, $270 million development project undertaken by VerkhnechonskNefteGaz.
Crude oil from Verkhnechonsky field is expected to supply the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline project under consideration by the Russian government (OGJ Online, Oct. 24, 2005).
Verkhnechonsky field is in the northern part of the Irkutskaya Oblast about 1,100 km from Angarsk and 420 km from Ust-Kut, a town on the Baikal-Amur railway and a port on the Lena River (see map, OGJ, July 19, 1999, p. 53).
VerkhnechonskNeftegaz said it plans to drill 20 wells, 13 of them production wells, during 2006-08.
Plans also call for a central oil collection station, a 570-km pipeline running alongside the winter road from Mirnyy to Lena Station in the city of Ust-Kut, and a railway terminal to receive and transport 1 million tonnes/year of crude oil along the Baikal-Amur Mainline Railway.
At first, the pipeline is to supply 1 million tonnes/year of crude oil, eventually rising to 7-8 million tonnes/year.
In 1999, a feasibility study showed the commercial oil potential of Verkhnechonsky field in the Irkutskaya Oblast, one of the many undeveloped hydrocarbon prospects in the Russian Federation's Eastern Siberia and Far East regions (OGJ, July 19, 1999, p. 53).
Reserves of Verkhnechonsky oil and gas field are estimated at 201.6 million tonnes of oil, 95.5 billion cu m of natural gas, and 3.3 million tonnes of condensate.
The license for development of Verkhnechonsky field is held by VerkhnechonskNefteGaz, whose major shareholders are TNK-BP 62.71%, HC InterRos 25.94%, and the Irkutsk Region Administration 11.29%.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
