Friday 7 April 2017

Russia drills new Arctic oil well

Russia's state-owned oil company has started drilling a new well on the Russian Arctic shelf.

Rosneft's Tsentralno-Olginskaya-1 well is part of the Khatangsky license area at the northernmost point of the region.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin launched exploration drilling via video link with Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin, who was on the shore of the Khatanga bay.

President Putin said: "We are seeing the start of work to develop a whole oil and gas province, which preliminary data suggest contains a vast quantity of energy resources.

"Horizontal drilling is a complex and high-tech operation. This is just the first well."

Seismic studies spread over 21 kilometres revealed the existence of 114 promising oil and gas-bearing structures.

Preliminary estimates suggest the Laptev Sea's total potential geological resources could come to 9.5 billion tonnes of oil equivalent.

Rosneft and BP are exploring and developing onshore Siberian oil resources in a joint venture.