Gazprom Neft’s 2019 year-end results show a 2.5-fold year-on-year increase in oil production at non-traditional reserves. Improvements in the technologies used in developing the Bazhenov Formation have allowed the company to almost halve the costs of producing Bazhenov oil, * from RUB 30,000 per tonne at the start of the project in 2017, to RUB 16,000 per tonne in 2019 - this figure itself reflecting a 20-% reduction on 2018 levels.
Efficiency improvements in developing “hard-to-recover” oil have been achieved thanks to the development of innovative tools and the deployment of new approaches to developing the Bazhenov Formation. The Bazhenov Technology Centre has continued fine-tuning fracking technologies at unconventional reserves throughout 2019, with the total number of stages achieved in high-tech fracking at the productive layer or “interval” at the Bazhenov Formation reaching 18 - the 1st such instance in the history of Russia’s oil industry. Added to which, the rate of fluid injection has also seen a three-fold increase, to 14 cu m per minute, with injection volumes increasing 6-fold, to 2,000 cu m.
The 1st domestic geophysical well-logging complex also successfully cleared pilot testing last year, as well as several new drilling fluids and supporting technologies for fracking. The company has also successfully tested a new type of xanthan-gum-based fracking fluid, the use of which has resulted in a 1.5-fold increase in well-flow.
The Bazhenov Technology Centre was responsible for drilling a 1,500-m-plus horizontal well shaft at the Bazhenov interval without the use of rotary-controlled systems in 2019 — the 1st such instance in the history of Russian oil production, with a compound drilling tool being used specifically for that purpose, together with an oil-based drilling mud to reduce friction. Initiatives in fine-tuning drilling technologies have allowed the company to cut high-tech well construction lead-times by 13%, from 63 to 54 days.
“Creating cost-effective technologies for developing ‘hard-to-recover’ hydrocarbon reserves is a challenge on a national scale. Accessing the significant resources of the Bazhenov Formation is directly dependent on addressing this, as is strengthening a whole range of oil-sector auxiliary and related industries. The outcomes achieved in 2019 demonstrate how the national ‘Bazhenov’ project is giving major impetus to the development of Russian drilling technologies, high-tech fracking and other innovative products. These developments will be rolled out to other geologically complex fields throughout the country, as well as improving the Russian oil and gas industry’s competitiveness on the global market”, said Alexei Vashkevich Director for Technological Development, Gazprom Neft.
To read the article in Russian.
