Rosneft in First Eastern Arctic Find
Monday 19 June 2017
Rosneft has made its first oil discovery in the Laptev Sea in Russia’s eastern Arctic in an exploration breakthrough for the Russian state-owned giant despite Western sanctions seeking to block such efforts.
The Tsentralno-Olginskaya-1 well, drilled from shore in Khatanga Bay, yielded core samples taken from depths of 2303 to 2363 metres that “showed high oil saturation dominated with light oily fractions”, Rosneft said in a statement.
“On the basis of primary studies already, it can be concluded that a new oilfield has been discovered, the volume of the resource potential of which is increasing as the drilling continues,” the company stated, adding that core sampling is continuing.
“Hydrocarbon saturation of the core samples proves the geological model developed by Rosneft experts,” it added.
It was the first exploration probe to be drilled in the Rosneft-operated Khatanga licence, awarded in 2015, that is located in the harsh-environment and remote region.
Rosneft earlier made the Universitetskaya-1 discovery in the Kara Sea of the Russian Arctic in 2014 under a partnership with ExxonMobil.
However, its exploration alliance with the US supermajor was suspended the same year due to sanctions on Moscow over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and incursions in Ukraine that barred technology exports for exploitation of hydrocarbons in Arctic, deep-water and shale plays.
The latest find has therefore demonstrated Rosneft’s ability to go it alone in Arctic exploration and the company said it can now be “considered a pioneer of deposit discoveries on the Eastern Arctic shelf”.
Rosneft holds 28 Arctic offshore licences with total estimated resources of 34 billion tonnes of oil equivalent (268.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent).
It estimates the Laptev Sea holds around 9.5 billion tonnes of oil equivalent (75 billion boe).
Presently, there is only one offshore platform in the Russian Arctic - Prirazlomnoye, operated by Gazprom Neft, which plans to produce 52,000 barrels per day this year.
Analysts said oil production in the region - apart from Prirazlomnoye - is years away and may start only in the mid-2020s.
Rosneft and its partners plan to invest 480 billion roubles ($8.4 billion) in developing Russia's offshore energy industry in the next five years in a drive to boost output from new areas due to declining output from the core Siberia region where fields are being depleted.