Rosneft, ExxonMobil target new reserves in Russia
25 Jun 2012
Tuapse, Russia— Rosneft and ExxonMobil are to jointly develop tight oil reserves in Western Siberia, using technologies that ExxonMobil has employed in North America. The companies have also agreed to establish a joint Arctic research centre for offshore developments.
The agreement. establishes a pilot programme to determine the technical feasibility of developing the reserves. This extends a technical research programme, which Rosneft and ExxonMobil signed in April 2012.
“In the near future, Rosneft and ExxonMobil will approve a work program for selected Rosneft license blocks which will include geological studies and drilling of Bazhenov and Achimov reservoirs. Drilling is scheduled to begin in 2013,” said a joint statement.
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 Igor 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.”
ExxonMobil chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson added: “ExxonMobil has technology leadership in tight oil and unconventional resource development and Rosneft brings direct knowledge and experience of Western Siberia’s geology and conventional production.”
The other agreement signed today will enable ExxonMobil to join the new Arctic Research Center, 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.
Safety standards will be a priority for the centre, which will have its own special marine incident warning and prevention department focused on preventing and immediately responding to emergencies, said ExxonMobil.
