GAZPROM NEFT BEGINS DRILLING AT AYASHSKY

Gazpromneft Sakhalin, a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, has begun drilling the first exploratory well at the Ayashsky licence block, located on the continental shelf of the Sea of Okhotsk. The programme of works to be completed during the 2017 ice-free season envisages well drilling, core sampling, the completion of extended geophysical investigations, and testing at target intervals. Detailed analysis of existing experience in implementing works on the continental shelf of the Sea of Okhotsk were analysed in detail in developing the basis for the drilling programme, as was experience in Arctic fields being developed by Gazprom Neft as operator. Leading Russian and international companies have been engaged in implementing the project, and extensive preliminary activities essential to project completion successfully undertaken. Drilling and well testing in 2017 will be performed by a semisubmersible drilling rig (the “HAKURYU-5”), delivered to the field in mid-June, its equipment having undergone extensive modernisation and further adaptations in line with the climatic conditions of the Sea of Okhotsk in 2016.
The Ayashsky block, located next to the developed fields of the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects in this already proven oil- and gas-bearing region, forms part of the Sakhalin-3 project. Recoverable reserves at this latest Gazprom Neft asset are estimated at more than 100 million tonnes of oil equivalent. (Source and image: Gazprom Neft / Hakuryu 5 semi-submersible)