Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug Authorities Proposed to Simplify the Privatization of Mothballed Oil Wells
Oil companies are interested in purchasing mothballed state wells, which are located on the territory of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug; this requires a change in legislation, said Sergei Filatov, director of the district department of subsoil use and natural resources.
“Now our oilmen, especially independent companies, are very actively using such mechanisms – they take a mothballed 40-year-old well, they re-mothball it, retest it, and get a good flow rate. With an initial flow rate of 40 years ago, say, 1 ton per day, now the well can produce 40 tons per day,” Filatov said at the National Oil and Gas Forum.
According to him, on the territory of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug there are currently about 10 thousand prospecting and exploration wells that were built in Soviet times and in post-Soviet times, which are either in the stage of conservation or liquidation.
“Companies are setting up reserves, making discoveries. But the problem is that when companies request to purchase these state-owned wells, the legislation does not allow this. Lease is possible, but such a well cannot be privatized,” he noted.
