Lukoil to launch 2 gas deposits in Yamalo-Nenets district 2019–20

KOGALYM, Mar 21 (PRIME) -- Russian oil company Lukoil plans to begin drilling gas wells at the Yuzhno-Messoyakhskoye and the Khalmerpayutinkoye deposits in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District in April to begin production in 2019 and 2020, respectively, Lukoil Vice President and Director General of Lukoil West Siberia Sergei Kochkurov said on Thursday.

“We have… delivered two drilling units to the Yuzhno-Messoyakhskoye and the Khalmerpayutinkoye deposits and will drill debut wells at the fields… We hope to find liquid hydrocarbons there,” he told reporters.

The reserves of the Yuzhno-Messoyakhskoye field amount to around 130 billion cubic meters of gas under C1 and C2 categories, Kochkurov said and added that the company plans to produce 250,000–350,000 cubic meters of gas per day at the field.

Lukoil assesses projected output at the Imilorskoye oilfield in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District at 5 million tonnes annually in 10 years, the executive also said. Now the company produces 1.5 million tonnes of oil annually at the field whose reserves stand at over 100 million tonnes of oil under C1 and C2 categories.

Kochkurov also said that Lukoil postponed a decision on drilling at the Vostochno-Taimyrsky area near the Laptev Sea coastline for 1.5–2 years to study the results of seismological surveys after drilling a 5,750 meter test well.

Lukoil West Siberia hopes to decrease the rate of oil output reduction from its fields to 1.5% in 2019 from 4.5% in 2018 when the company produced 47 million tonnes of oil equivalent and 35 tonnes of oil. It also plans to raise production in 2020.

The company does not project heavy losses from the OPEC+ oil output cut agreement, Kochkurov said.

In November 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC states including Russia first agreed to reduce their oil output to rebalance the market. In December 2018, the participants of the deal decided to cut production by an additional 800,000 barrels per day for OPEC and 400,000 barrels per day for non-OPEC states, including 230,000 barrels per day for Russia, from the level of October 2018.

Lukoil is preparing to calculate the tax on additional income from hydrocarbon production for 90 Western Siberian deposits of the 112 deposits it owns under a law introduced on January 1.

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