Rosneft increases resource base of Verkhnechonskoye field

Rosneft has increased the resource base of Verkhnechonskoye oil and gas condensate field in the Katangsky district of the Irkutsk region of Russia, the company reported Dec. 18.

The company upped the resource base by 51.8 million tonnes of oil and condensates in the AB1B2 category and by 66.4 bcm of gas in the B1B2 category. The remaining recoverable reserves of the field have increased by 33% for oil and condensate and 57% for gas, Rosneft said, adding that expected initial recoverable reserves as of Jan. 1, 2020, will be 276 million tonnes of oil and condensate and 193 bcm of gas.

The field was discovered in 1978. Its pilot operation began in 2005. Commercial development began in October 2008. During field operations from 2013 to 2019, the company accumulated geological and geophysical information from production wells and based on the results of the core sampling collection, the geological model of the field structure, including its petrophysical model, was updated.

In November, Rosneft’s design institutes, Tyumen Oil Research Centre and RN-KrasnoyarskNIPIneft, carried out work to calculate reserves and supplement the field production model.

Verkhnechonskoye field in Eastern Siberia is developed by Verkhnechonskneftegaz JSC, a subsidiary of Rosneft Oil Co. Since 2017, Beijing Gas Group Co. Ltd. holds a 20% share of Verkhnechonskneftegaz.