U.S.-RUSSIAN JV SELLS RUSSIAN CRUDE

Geoilbent Ltd., a U.S.-Russian joint venture, has received cash payment for its first sale and shipment of Russian oil production.

The combine of Benton Oil & Gas Co., Oxnard, Calif., 34%, and Russia's Purneftegasgeologia Industrial Association (PIA) and Purneftegas, 33% each, sold about 90,000 bbl of oil for cash.

Benton said the price, paid in U.S. dollars, was based on recent prices for North Sea Brent crude. Brent futures have ranged from almost $14/bbl to almost $16/bbl in recent weeks.

The oil, shipped at first through the joint venture's 37 mile pipeline, was later transported by Transneft, the pipeline that runs from Russia into eastern Europe. The oil was marketed and sold by Nafta Moscow, a Russian oil exporting company.

Geoilbent plans to use proceeds from the sale to drill and complete wells in its North Gubkinskoye field, an oil and gas field discovered by PIA and delineated with more than 60 wells.

The venture identified nine of those wells that were capable of production. They currently are producing about 1,000 b/d after the field went on stream earlier this year.

The delineation wells were not originally intended by PIA to be commercial producers, so completion methods for optimum production were not used. Benton said production rates from new wells, some of which are currently being drilled and completed, will be significantly greater as a result of the use of western completion technology.

North Gubkinskoye field, which covers an area about 15 miles long and 4 miles wide, was production tested during the 1980s. It has 26 oil and gas sands. With reserves estimated at 312 million bbl of crude oil and 45 million bbl of condensate, North Gubkinskoye is one of the larger fields in the region, Benton said.

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