Rosneft discoveres new hydrocarbon field in Kara Sea
Rosneft successfully completed the drilling of the northernmost well in the world – the Universitetskaya-1 well in the Arctic, the Company says in its press release. According to the results of the drilling Rosneft has made an oil discovery at the East-Prinovozemelskiy-1 license area. The drilling was completed in record-breaking time - in one and a half month - in compliance with all the technological and ecological standards and requirements.
The sea depth at the drilling site is 81 m, the depth of the straight well – 2,113 m. the well was drilled in open-water conditions – at the 74th circle of longitude, 250 km clear off the inland of the Russian Federation.
As a result of the drilling formation samples were obtained, a pilot borehole was drilled (diameter 8.5 inches to a depth of 600 m) and horizontal drill samples were collected. Specialists obtained substantial amount of new geological data which will be elaborated. Upon the completion of the analysis a conclusion on the resource base of the discovered field can be made. At the moment the geological data interpretation is being conducted, the field’s development model is being elaborated. The security and fail-safety of the operations of future drilling is guaranteed by the landing of 5 columns.
During the ceremony dedicated to the completion of the drilling the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin said: “I can inform you about the discovery of the first oil/gas-condensate field in the new Kara sea oil province. The first oil was extracted. It is an astonishing sample of light oil, which based on the results of the analysis performed, is comparable to the Siberian Light oil. The resource base estimate of just this oil trap is 338 bcm of gas and more than 100 mln tones of oil. And this is just the estimates of this very structure. This is an outstanding result of the first exploratory drilling on a completely new offshore field. This is our united victory, it was achieved thanks to our friends and partners from ExxonMobil, Nord Atlantic Drilling, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Weatherford, Baker, Trendsetter, FMC. We would like to name this field Pobeda*”
A wide range of detailed researches of the environment preceded geological operations: climate, iceberg migration, wildlife thorough analyses were conducted. Rosneft for many years conducts such researches in the Kara Sea, Laptev and Chukchee Sea. All of this data is taken into consideration while planning the exploration and for the design of rigs, for the evaluation of logistics for shelf projects.
Rosneft for the time being organized 10 scientific expeditions in the Arctic. As a result of this work the meteorological observation system in the Kara Sea was fully restored. Special focus of these researches is on biological analysis, which includes, the monitoring of the habitat of marine mammals and birds.
The Universitetskaya structure covers an area of 1,200 thousand kilometers with a 550 m high hydrocarbon trap. Its resources account to more than 1.3 billion tons of oil equivalent. A total of some 30 structures were found in three East Prinovozemelskiy areas of the Kara Sea, and the entire resource base of the three areas is estimated at 87 billion barrels or 13 billion tonnes of oil equivalent.
According to experts the volume of the Kara Sea oil province resources exceeds the oil and gas resources the Gulf of Mexico, the Brazilian shelf, the shelf of Alaska and Canada, and it will be comparable to the resource base of Saudi Arabia.
Prior to the start of operations in the Kara Sea the West Alpha drilling rig was heavily upgraded, which among other things was needed to guarantee ecological safety. The rig is equipped with two groups of blowout preventers and an independent submarine locking device, which in case of minor risks will seal the well. The rig is held at the drilling site by an anchoring positioning system, consisting of 8 anchors. This guarantee an elevate rig stability. Most of the platform is out of the reach of the waves, which can disturb its operations. The rig is capable of drilling to a depth of up to 7 km.
