OAO TNK-BP Holding (TNK-BP) has produced one million tons of crude oil at the Urnenskoye and Ust-Tegusskoye fields of the Uvat project in the south of the Tyumen region since the launch of commercial production on February 16, 2009. Daily production at the fields currently amounts to 6,200 tons per day. TNK-BP continues expanding its production capacity and drilling of wells.
Since the start of 2009, the company has drilled 27 producing wells out of 41 planned for the year. TNK-BP expects to complete construction of reservoir pressure maintenance system facilities, a multi phase pump station, and the second stage of the central oil gathering facility by the end of this year. These activities will allow to increase daily oil production to 8,000 tons in fourth quarter of 2009.
In 2009, the company plans to start construction of a gas turbine power plant at the Ust-Tegusskoye field. The investment in this project is estimated at 1.4 billion rubles, and the power plant should be commissioned in October 2010. This will result in 95% utilization of the gas produced in the Eastern hub of the fields. Construction of the intra-field infrastructure of Urnenskoye and Ust-Tegusskoye (pipelines, motor roads, power transmission lines, transformer substations) will be continued in parallel.
The total amount of TNK-BP investment in the Uvat project since the start of development will amount to $1.5 billion at the end of 2009.
“Commercial operation of the Urnenskoye and Ust-Tegusskoye fields has demonstrated that Uvat has greater potential than it was considered just a few years ago,” Sergey Brezitsky, TNK-BP Executive Vice President, Upstream, said. “Our success is based on application of modern exploration and production technology, primarily, three-dimensional seismic. We shall continue working actively in the Eastern hub of the project to drill wells and construct the infrastructure. In addition, we plan to start developing fields in the Central hub of Uvat where exploration is still underway”.
“The development of Uvat fields, along with Kamennoye and Verkhnechonskoye is among TNK-BP priority projects that will be funded as planned,” Tim Summers, chief operating officer, said. “In 2009, we expect to produce more than 2.5 million tons of oil in Uvat. TNK-BP will not just manage to sustain production at the record high level of the last year but also increase it by around 2%”.