Russian Government-owned Rosneft has started drilling the Tsentralno-Olginskaya-1 well in the Khatangsky license area, situated in the northernmost Russian Arctic shelf.
The area where the drilling has started, has reportedly no sea ports in the vicinity of the Khara-Tumus peninsula and the navigation period in this region lasts for only two months in a year.
Last year, during summer navigation, it is reported that about 8000 tons of cargo was delivered from the sea port of Arkhangelsk to the drilling site.
Two ice-class cargo vessels were used for transporting drilling rig, equipment and materials for drilling and accommodation modules to the site, crossing the areas of White Sea, the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea.
Drilling at the site is being handled by RN-Burenie, Rosneft’s in-house service company. The drilling will be based on the research results obtained last year by Rosneft. The exploration drilling was launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin via a video link-up. Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin was on shore at the Khatanga bay.
Rosneft Head reported to Vladimir Putin that the drilling preparation was completed in record-time.
He said: “With your support, we gained the right to work on the Khatanga block just over a year ago. We carried out unprecedented geological exploration work within a very short period.
“We completed 21 linear kilometres of seismic studies that revealed the existence of 114 promising oil and gas-bearing structures. Preliminary estimates suggest that the Laptev Sea’s total potential geological resources could come to 9.5 billion tonnes of oil equivalent.”
According to Rosneft, Tsentralno-Olginskaya-1 is the first well to be drilled under the offshore area of the Laptve Sea. It was noted that the drilling will be done from the coast as it can help in reducing construction costs.
The design depth is up to 5000 metres with a subsequent horizontal leg. The technology being used at the site will enable vertical deviation of up to 15000 metres. It is being claimed that the use of the technology not only helps in saving money, but also ensure of high environmental standards are being met.