These higher production volumes have been made possible by deploying cutting-edge production methodologies in developing hard-to-recover viscous oil reserves, and by through high-tech drilling.

Messoyakhaneftegaz’ operating well stock increased to 115 wells in 2019, the majority of these having been built using Fishbone technology and having between four and eight side-tracks. Total meterage delivery last year stood at more than 500,000.

The business continues to work on extending its resource base and bringing deep horizons into production, with the company embarking on the full-scale development of Achimovsky strata — reserves in which are estimated at more than 111 million tonnes in total, including 35,000 million tonnes of oil. Deep wells drilled at these deep-horizon formations have delivered production five to eight times higher than the average for this asset. Seismic investigations covering more than 200 square kilometres was undertaken last year as part resource-base development activities at northern Messoyakha license blocks: seismic activities are expected to cover an area twice that size this year.

Messoyakhaneftegaz will be continuing its production-digitalisation programme throughout 2020, as well as further improving process efficiency, deploying new technologies for developing hard-to-recover reserves, and ramping up production drilling while paying particular attention to fine-tuning construction solutions for bringing low-capacity and marginal Vostochno-Messoakhskoye field zones into production.

A major benchmark in APG- (associated petroleum gas) utilisation will be the commissioning of a 1.5-billion cubic-metre-per-year compressor station at the Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye field, together with a 47-kilometre gas pipeline and underground APG storage facility at the neighbouring Zapadno-Messoyakhskoye field.

Source: gazprom-neft.com