Zoltav Resources: Koltogor Reserves Up 546m Barrels
Zoltav, the Russia and CIS-focused oil and gas exploration and production company, is pleased to announce that the Russian Federal Agency for Subsoil Use (“Rosnedra”) has registered an additional 546 million barrels (mm bbls) of Russian standard C1 plus C2 oil reserves for the Koltogor Exploration and Production Licence (the “Koltogor E&P Licence”). The additional reserves take the total Russian standard C1 plus C2 oil reserves for the Koltogor E&P Licence and the neighbouring Koltogor Exploration Licence 10 (“Koltogor 10”) to in excess of 1 billion barrels.
The registration of additional reserves was undertaken following the interpretation of 3D seismic acquired in 2014 which improved the understanding of the reservoir distribution in the Upper Jurassic formations.
Commenting on the registration of additional reserves, Alastair Ferguson, Executive Chairman, said:
“The interpretation of 3D seismic data from last year’s programme has enabled the Company to re-map the reservoir distribution of the Koltogor oil field which we now understand to be a significantly bigger asset. With over a billion barrels of Russian standard reserves, the Koltogor licences contain the largest undeveloped oil discovery in the prolific Western Siberian oil province of Khantiy-Mansisk.”
“Zoltav places great importance on its ability to add value to the acquisitions it makes. The high quality of our 3D acquisition and interpretation which resulted in the re-delineation of the field demonstrates the Company’s operational capability.”
“Zoltav’s 100 per cent. interest in the licences places the Company in a very favourable position to advance the development of these fields. We are commencing the next phase in the appraisal programme which will in due course include appraisal drilling and testing in order to further define and prove the optimum method of extracting the hydrocarbons.”
It should be noted that the Russian Federation Classification Scheme for reserves and resources is not directly comparable to the Petroleum Resources Management System (“PRMS”) under which Zoltav reports the reserves and resources for its licences. C1 and C2 reserves under the Russian Federation Classification Scheme should not therefore be directly compared with Proved and Probable reserves under PRMS which may be significantly lower. The Company intends to commission an update of its reserves and resources under PRMS and will publish this upon completion, which is expected to be during Q3 2015.
The table below shows the reserves attributable to the Koltogor E&P Licence and Koltogor 10 under the Russian Federation Classification Scheme:
Russian standard reserves
Starting Reserves (at time of Zoltav acquisition) | Registered Reserves as at 20 June 2014 | Registered Reserves as at 11 March 2015 | ||||||||
Koltogor E&P Licence | C1 | C2 | Total | C1 | C2 | Total | C1 | C2 | Total | |
Bazhenov (Ju0) | mm bbls | – | – | – | – | 47.9 | 47.9 | 3.9 | 49.5 | 53.4 |
Ju1 | mm bbls | 2.5 | 263.6 | 266.1 | 8.6 | 317.2 | 325.7 | 11.7 | 715.4 | 727.1 |
Ju2 | mm bbls | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 48.9 | 48.9 |
Ju3 | mm bbls | – | – | – | 0.5 | 29.1 | 29.6 | 1.6 | 118.4 | 119.9 |
Total | mm bbls | 2.5 | 263.6 | 266.1 | 9.1 | 394.1 | 403.2 | 17.1 | 932.2 | 949.4 |
Koltogor 10 | C1 | C2 | Total | C1 | C2 | Total | C1 | C2 | Total | |
Bazhenov (Ju0) | mm bbls | – | – | – | 1.3 | 32.6 | 33.9 | 1.3 | 32.6 | 33.9 |
Ju1 | mm bbls | – | – | – | 3.8 | 46.3 | 50.1 | 3.8 | 46.3 | 50.1 |
Total | mm bbls | – | – | – | 5.1 | 78.9 | 84.0 | 5.1 | 78.9 | 84.0 |
Combined Total | mm bbls | 2.5 | 263.6 | 266.1 | 14.2 | 473.0 | 487.2 | 22.2 | 1,011.1 | 1,033.4 |
Qualified person
The technical information in this announcement has been reviewed by Dr Alexander Sokolov, the Company’s Director Exploration. Dr Sokolov has over 30 years’ experience in the industry, having worked for Meggionneftegazgeologia (now part of TNK), the Siberian Oil Corporation, Sibir Energy plc and served as deputy director of the Russian State Institute for Geology and Development of Combustible Minerals (IGIRGI). He has also been a director of Chumpasneftedobycha (Heritage Oil). He has authored 25 publications and is a member of the Russian Society of Subsoil Use Experts.
