Rosneft and ExxonMobil to jointly develop West Siberian tight oil reserves

Rosneft and ExxonMobil have signed an agreement to jointly develop tight oil reserves in Western Siberia and establish a joint Arctic Research Centre for Offshore Developments.

The two companies have agreed to expand and expedite joint efforts to develop oil reserves in tight low-permeability formations in Western Siberia using advanced technologies that ExxonMobil has successfully employed in North America.

The agreement establishes a pilot programme to determine the technical feasibility of developing the reserves and is an extension of a technical research program, which Rosneft and ExxonMobil signed in April 2012.

In the next year Rosneft and ExxonMobil will approve a work programme for selected Rosneft license blocks which will include geological studies and drilling of Bazhenov and Achimov reservoirs. Drilling is scheduled to begin in 2013.

ExxonMobil will finance the geological studies and exploratory drilling. Participating interests in a potential development phase will be 66.67% for Rosneft and 33.33% for ExxonMobil.

“We are not only looking at new geographical regions of operation but are also studying the potential of difficult to produce reserves in traditional oil producing regions,” said Rosneft President Sechin.

“In Western Siberia, an extremely promising area in this respect is the Yuganskneftegaz Region. Development of these reservoirs will require a combination of state-of-the-art technologies, expertise in developing tight reservoirs, and appropriate fiscal terms, which the government of Russia started preparing this year. This will both help meet the growing need for energy in Russia itself and maintain stability in global markets."

The other agreement signed today will enable ExxonMobil to join the new Arctic Research Centre, which will provide a full range of services to support all stages of oil and gas development on the Arctic shelf, including ice monitoring and management, design of ice resistant offshore vessels, structures and Arctic pipelines, logistics and safety.

Adapted from press release by Peter Farrell.

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/20062012/rosneft-and-exxonmobil-to-jointly-develop-tight-oil-reserves-in-western-siberia/