Rosneft has approved the drilling of more than 2,400 wells during 2018-27 to boost recovery by more than 50 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) at supergiant Samotlor field in Western Siberia, according to a company statement.
The Russian government has agreed to cut the mineral extraction tax applicable to the field by 35 billion rubles ($600 million) over 10 years, Rosneft said.
Discovered in 1965 and placed on production in 1969, Samotlor has produced 2.7 billion toe of hydrocarbons. More than 19,000 wells have been drilled in the field.
Production now comes from reservoirs with low permeability and low saturation and from edge zones of depleted reservoirs. Water cut is as high as 96, Rosneft said.
Rosneft unit Samotlorneftegaz operates the field.