Tatneft Expands Its Shale Oil Resource Base
Expert Explains the Rationale Behind the Acquisition of the Severo-Irgizsky Block in the Samara Region
Tatneft-Samara acquired the Severo-Irgizsky subsoil block in the Samara Region at auction. The block, covering an area of 302 square kilometres, is located in the Bolshechernigovsky and Bolsheglushitsky districts. Under the licence, the block can be developed for a period of 25 years, according to the publication Samarskoye Obozrenie.
At the same time, geological exploration of the block must be completed within 60 months from the date of licence registration. The starting price of the lot was 8.86 million roubles. The auction was organised by the Department for Subsoil Use in the Volga Federal District (Privolzhsknedra). The only applicant was Tatneft-Samara LLC, whose bid was recognised as fully compliant with all requirements.
The current auction for the sale of rights to a hydrocarbon-bearing block is the first in 2026. By the end of the year, Rosnedra plans to put two more oil and gas blocks in the Samara Region up for auction.
The Severo-Irgizsky block is not yet classified as a developed or explored field. Prospective resources in the D1 category may reach 5.134 million tonnes of oil, 0.604 million cubic metres of natural gas, and 0.01 million tonnes of condensate.
These are potentially proven (localised) hydrocarbon resources. As a rule, they are part of larger fields with already proven oil and gas potential.
Prospective oil resources in the D1 (D3dm) category at this block are estimated at 8.9 million tonnes. This category refers to potential deposits of Domanik (shale) oil. These reserves are located in shale formations composed of clay limestones and silica. Such oil has higher viscosity, which affects the extraction technology.
Tatneft-Samara operates in Tatarstan, the Orenburg, Ulyanovsk, and Samara regions. The company holds 20 licencesfor subsoil use. The Tatneft subsidiary has 290 drilled wells and 12 production sites.
Tatneft-Samara is developing 35 fields with high geological risks. These risks are associated with small reservoir sizes, complex geological conditions, high viscosity of produced fluids, gas content, and abnormally high reservoir pressure.
The company notes that a key reserve for further development of oil production in the country and for replenishing the hydrocarbon resource base lies in high-viscosity and ultra-high-viscosity oil reserves (natural bitumen).
At the same time, Tatneft-Samara intends to expand its presence and increase its resource base beyond Tatarstan.
In recent years, the company has already acquired hydrocarbon blocks in the Samara Region. At the end of 2024, following an auction, it obtained the Alfitovy subsoil block (for more details, see the publication by IA Devon). The field, covering 619 square kilometres, is located in the Bolshechernigovsky, Bolsheglushitsky, and Alexeyevsky districts. The Alfitovy block is also undeveloped, with only localised oil resources identified in the D0 categoryamounting to 4.074 million tonnes.
The auction also involved RITEK (LUKOIL), NNK-Orenburgneftegaz, and Yalykskoye LLC from Udmurtia. During the bidding, the price of the Alfitovy block increased nearly ninefold, from 66 million to 593 million roubles. Adjacent to this field is the Irgizsky block in the Bolsheglushitsky district, which is being developed by Tatneft-Samara.
The new block in the Samara Region will allow Tatneft to replenish its resource base, comments Anton Sokolov, an expert at the Russian Gas Society. “Within Tatarstan, there are no major discoveries, as it is a mature production region,” he states. “All major discoveries have long been made. The Samara Region also cannot be classified as a greenfield area.”
“As for the Domanik formations, Tatneft is among the leaders, as it has been working with these reserves since the early 2010s,” Sokolov adds. “It is possible that the company is forming a cluster of similar assets to which it can apply its accumulated experience, both scientific and operational, in developing Domanik resources.”
The cluster approach makes it possible to consolidate geological and production data both across the region and within a specific stratigraphic unit. It also allows optimisation of project economics through simplified logistics and the use of shared infrastructure, the expert explains.
The Severo-Irgizsky block can be considered an almost ideal addition to Tatneft-Samara’s portfolio, notes Vadim Tedeyev, Managing Partner at IPM Consulting.
“Geographically, the block fits within the perimeter of the company’s existing Samara–Ulyanovsk assets,” he explains. “By leveraging a shared drilling service base and existing pipeline infrastructure, the company can reduce capital expenditures by up to 20–30% compared to a competitor entering from scratch.”
Tatneft has been testing heavy oil production technologies in Tatarstan for several years. The company drills horizontal wellbores exceeding one kilometre in length. “A proprietary fleet of acid-proppant mixtures has been developed,” continues Vadim Tedeyev. “This means that the technological risk for the company is lower than for any external player.”
According to him, the resource base of Tatarstan is rapidly becoming watered out. Even if it is possible to produce 1 million tonnes of oil annually from the Severo-Irgizsky block, this will make a significant contribution to refinery utilisation. At the same time, regulations allow 7 years for exploration and appraisal work. If pilot wells demonstrate production below 20 tonnes per day, the block can be returned to the state without significant consequences. In this case, the subsoil user will lose only the minimal licence fee.
“The size of the lot is relatively small for vertically integrated oil companies, while the uncertainty deters private investors,” notes the Managing Partner of IPM Consulting. “Therefore, Tatneft-Samara effectively secured the asset without competition, gaining access to a relatively low-cost but potentially high-yield project.”
