ExxonMobil, an oil and gas company, has started production from the Odoptu field at the Sakhalin-1 project offshore northeastern Russia.
The Odoptu field is expected to add up to 11 million barrels to Sakhalin-1 oil production in 2011.
ExxonMobil claims that development of the Odoptu field has included world-class performance in the drilling and completion of seven extended-reach wells.
Additional activities in the development of Odoptu included the construction of a new onshore oil and gas treatment facility and flowline connection to the existing Chayvo onshore processing facility.
The Sakhalin-1 project includes the phased development of the Chayvo, Odoptu and Arkutun-Dagi fields, with an estimated total resource of 2.3 billion barrels (307 million tons) of oil and 17 trillion cubic feet (485 billion cubic meters) of natural gas.
The Chayvo field, which was the initial phase of the Sakhalin-1 project, began production in 2005.
Future project phases call for the development of the Arkutun-Dagi field as well as expanded gas production and sales from the Chayvo field.
ExxonMobil subsidiary Exxon Neftegas is the operator of the Sakhalin-1 project on behalf of a five-company consortium.
The Sakhalin-1 consortium includes ENL with 30% interest, Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co with 30%, RN-Astra with 8.5%, Sakhalinmorneftegas-Shelf with 11.5%, and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Videsh with 20% interest.