The Yamal Asset of TNK-BP Is Developing Unique Fields of Yamal and the Krasnoyarsk Territory

Rospan International, a company established in 1994 for development of Achim deposits in the Vostochno-Urengoiskoe and Novo-Urengoiskoe fields in Yamal, set priorities for its activities in the nearest years. Just before the professional holiday of geologists, the newspaper Krasny Sever found out the ways and goals of Rospan International.

Tough Oil Accumulator

The company is by 100% managed by TNK-BP and since its inception is based in Novy Urengoi – the gas capital of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area. The reserves of the gas condensate field being developed by the company in the Purovsk District are estimated at 950 billion cubic meters of gas and 180 million tons of gas condensate.

Rospan International is the only asset of TNK-BP that supplies about 200 million cubic meters of natural gas every month. However, recent decisions of TNK-BP considerably increased Rospan International’s potential by accumulation of oil assets in Yamal and the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Unique Russkoe Field

Rospan International is preparing a series of pilot works under the guidance of its General Director Rustem Bakirov, founder of the legendary Samotlor school and author of a number of major projects for the independent fuel and energy complex in Yugra. According to Rustem Ilgizovich, efforts of Russian and foreign research institutes were joined and hundreds of highly-qualified specialists from all Russia were invited for full development of the oil industry in the region.

One of our highest priorities in Yamal is the Russkoe field in the Tazovsk District, says he. The recoverable reserves of this field, even in the most pessimistic forecast, amount to approximately 150 million tons. The Russkoe field stands out by the unique quality of its oil and the serious factors complicating oil production in it.

In fact, here we have the entire range of possible problems, – says Denis Romanov, Chief Geologist of Rospan International, joining the conversation. – These problems include unconsolidated sandstones that crumble when drilled, a gas cap that creates a risk of gas breakthrough, bottom waters, and highly complicated geological structure of the deposit, which, according to various estimates, is composed of 14-19 separate blocks. Our nearest task is to focus our efforts on pilot works and understand how cost-efficient oil from the Russkoe field may be.

Rospan’s plans for ascertaining the potential of formations PK 1-7 in this area go as far as 2014. By that time, the common trunk pipeline, which is being actively discussed now in the government, will be constructed. Thus far, approximately 30,000-40,000 tons of oil is produced here and transported in tank trucks. The drilling program of this year implies drilling of 10 more wells. Apart from that, different well-known enhanced recovery methods for high-viscosity oil will be tested, including thermal recovery methods, methods based on alternation of water and gas, heat alkali recovery methods, etc. Construction of infrastructure will be continued in parallel. Only to get rid of the dependence on ice roads for transportation of oil, 47 kilometers of roads must be built.

Autonomous Locomotive

In the nearest future, Rospan will intensify its efforts in the northern part of Krasnoyarsk Territory. The Suzunskoe field, which is far from major cities of Krasnoyarsk Territory and is part of the Bolshekhetskoe project of TNK-BP, will also be developed under the guidance and control of specialists from Novy Urengoi.

In terms of oil quality and productivity, the Suzunskoe field is a real gem of our project, – the Chief Geologist says inspiringly. – It is geologically simple, without any visible complications. Pilot works of the next year will provide more detailed information on the geological structure of the field for choosing the right strategy of its development. Much of our activities are expected to unfold here.

Development of this field with recoverable reserves estimated at 44 million tons will be completely automatic, – the General Director continues. – Equipment is mostly delivered through ice roads, and the river navigation period here is limited to 2-3 weeks. However, in spite of the obvious problems and difficulties, works are performed here according to the schedule. We already started backfilling of operations areas and are going to drill 6 wells this year. Our current task is difficult but feasible – start oil production in this field in mid 2012 and produce the first 2.5 million tons of oil.

Until 2012, Rospan has to build here an oil treatment facility, a gas-turbine power plant, a procurement base, and a rotational camp. Nuances of the main problem, which is access to the pipeline running in 85 km from the field, are still vague. However, in view of the signals sent by the government to oil and gas companies for joint and efficient development of Yamal fields, Rospan hopes for quick and successful completion of negotiations with Rosneft.

Another promising line of activities is continuation of geological exploration works in the Suzunskoe field. This field is surrounded by eight license areas, in five of which Rospan is going to start exploration drilling in the nearest future.

Smart Track

More remote plans of TNK-BP oilmen in Yamal imply development of the Tagaulsky area neighboring the Suzunskoe field on the Taimyr Peninsula and development of the Russko-Rechenskoe field in the Tazovsky District of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area.

Both fields are scarcely explored, – says Rustem Bakirov. – For this reason, their fate depends on geologists and developers closely cooperating with our main research partners – Tyumen Petroleum Research Center and Siberian Scientific Analysis Center. Thanks to the high technological services provided by Schlumberger and the efforts of the Russian contractors Nizhnevartovskburneft and Tyumenpromgeofizika, were are going to find an approach to hard-to-recover reserves of these fields.

According to Chief Geologist Denis Romanov, Rospan geologists have all the resources and possibilities required for assessing the potentials of fields with maximum possible accuracy.

Our current situation resembles the situation with development of fields in Western Siberia in the 1970s. First, we are relying on young specialists for implementation of oil projects, – says Denis Valeryevich. – Our geological service is fairly young and is manned with people younger than 30, recent students mostly. We also have experienced specialists forming the core of our geological service. Use of modern computer technologies in combination with the experience gained during development of fields in Western Siberia enhances the synergetic effect of interaction between experience and ambitions. We are making maximum use of efficient and justified modern technologies. We use three-dimensional seismic exploration methods for exploration of fields as well as attribute analysis and different procedures of seismic data inversion to better understand the geological structure of fields. Telemetric methods of well drilling and geo-navigation allow errorless drilling of horizontal wells and selection of the most promising parts of formations. Interference tests of exploration wells help corroborate hydrodynamic connections between different parts of formations and choose right formation pressure maintenance methods.

Geologists’ Dream

Discovering a new field is probably every geologist’s dream, – says Denis Romanov. – Our predecessors, represented by Farman Kurbanovich Salmanov’s team, left us slim chances of finding another Samotlor. This does not mean, however, that we have nothing to strive for in our age of technological progress and ubiquitous demand for innovations. In my opinion, construction of an “intelligent” well that would control the whole production process without extraneous interference is a very brave and promising dream. Analogs of such wells are used in offshore production, but an innovation like this could also be implemented onshore in certain conditions, one of which is a high well flow rate. We strive for this and believe in our success.

Source: Krasny Sever