First two Odoptu extended-reach wells completed

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Jan. 22 -- Exxon Neftegas Ltd. (ENL) completed the first two of seven planned extended-reach wells for producing the Odoptu field off eastern Russia's Sakhalin Island.

The wells drilled from shore with the Yastreb rig, one of the world's most powerful land-based rigs, extend more than 9 km under the Okhotsk Sea.

ENL also has under construction a new onshore oil and gas treatment facility and a flowline to the existing Chayvo onshore processing facility about 40 miles south of Odoptu. The company expects first production from Odoptu in 2010’s second half.

Odoptu is part of the Sakhalin-1 project that includes the phased development of Chayvo, Odoptu, and Arkuntun-Dagi fields, containing estimated recoverable resources of 2.3 billion bbl of oil and 17 tcf of gas

Chayvo field began producing in 2006 and to date has produced more than 240 million bbl of oil and supplied about 180 bcf of gas to Russia's Khabarovk Krai province.

In April 2009, ENL awarded Aker Solutions ASA contracts for designing, constructing, and delivering a gravity-base structure (GBS) for developing the third field in the Sakhalin-1 project, Arkuntun-Dagi, which lies in 33-197 ft of water about 15 miles off Sakhalin (OGJ Online, Apr. 30, 2009).

Partners in Sakhalin-1 are ENL 30%, Sakhalin Oil & Gas Development Co. Ltd. 30%, two affiliates of Rosneft, the Russian state-owned oil company (RN-Astra 8.5% and Sakhalinmorneftegas-Shelf 11.5%), and ONGC Videsh Ltd. 20%.