ROSSHELF SEES BIG DEVELOPMENT FOR BARENTS FIELD

Russia's joint stock company Rosshelf estimates 120 development wells will be needed to place the Barents Sea's supergiant Shtokmanovskoye gas/condensate field on peak production. Rosshelf hopes Shtokmanovskoye's peak flow of about 4.8 bcfd will be reached 8 years after start of development, scheduled for 199697. The company believes the peak output can be maintained for 14 years.

Aug. 23, 1993

Russia's joint stock company Rosshelf estimates 120 development wells will be needed to place the Barents Sea's supergiant Shtokmanovskoye gas/condensate field on peak production.

Rosshelf hopes Shtokmanovskoye's peak flow of about 4.8 bcfd will be reached 8 years after start of development, scheduled for 199697. The company believes the peak output can be maintained for 14 years.

Rosshelf, which unexpectedly won development rights to Shtokmanovskoye in late 1992 despite its lack of experience in offshore work, recently received a government license approving its plans for financing field development. The firm has begun raising funds to pay for a development feasibility study it is conducting and expects to complete in 1994.

Rosshelf Pres. Yevgeny Velikhov now says 90%-vs. the previously estimated 80%-of equipment needed to develop Shtokmanovskoye will be provided by domestic companies, primarily in the former U.S.S.R.'s military/industrial complex. The firms include Malakhit, Rubin, and Lazurit, which were engaged in construction of Soviet nuclear powered submarines.