Achimgaz drilling Siberian production well

June 13, 2006
The ZAO Achimgaz joint venture of Wintershall AG and OAO Gazprom subsidiary OOO Urengoygazprom has begun drilling the first production well to develop the Lower Cretaceous Achimov formation of Urengoy field in western Siberia.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, June 13 -- The ZAO Achimgaz joint venture of Wintershall AG and OAO Gazprom subsidiary OOO Urengoygazprom has begun drilling the first production well to develop the Lower Cretaceous Achimov formation of Urengoy field in western Siberia. The program is expected to produce 8.3 billion cu m/year of natural gas.

The first of two drilling rigs is working in the first phase of the project, which eventually will consist of six production wells. Each of the first Achimgaz wells will be drilled vertically to 3,700 m TD. Other wells will be drilled at 70-80° angles to reach 4,400-4,800 m TMD. The technology is new for this part of the West Siberian basin because of the depths and extreme pressures (700 bar).

Western Siberia is expected to produce 200 billion cu m of gas and 40 million tonnes of condensate in the next 40 years.

Achimgaz, formed in 1990, will deliver the gas to markets via the partnership's 2,000-km Wingas GMBH transmission system linking Germany with Russia (OGJ, Apr. 15, 2005, Newsletter). The Wingas partnership has existed since 1990.

The two companies have spent €3 billion creating and expanding this gas infrastructure. Most work was completed last year on roads, drilling, and production facilities for the Achimov formation development. Gazprom will buy Achimgaz gas, which it expects to sell 75% in Russia and the balance in Germany and other European markets.

When the reservoir behavior has been explored, work will start on developing the entire field in 2007-08. With total investments of as much as $1 billion, this project is one of the largest investments ever made by a German company in the Russian Federation, said Wintershall.

Separately, Wintershall signed an agreement with Gazprom giving Wintershall 35% minus one share in Yuzhno Russkoye gas field in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous area of western Siberia.

Production from that reservoir, which contains more than 600 billion cu m of gas, is expected to begin in 2008.