OREANDA-NEWS. TNK-BP has begun drilling the first development well N1038 at the Urnenskoye hydrocarbon field (Tyumen Oblast), it was reported by the company’s press service. Altogether, in 2007 the company plans to drill 18 development wells at the Urnenskoye field. A further 6 development wells are to be drilled at the Ust-Tegusskoe field. 

“During the winter of 2006-2007 more than 1.1m tons of cargo was transported to fields incorporated in the Uvat project and more than 650 km of roads were constructed. This enabled drilling on the first development well at the Urnenskoye field to start on 14 May ahead of schedule,” it was stated in the press release. 

According to the press service information, during the course of his trip to Tyumen, TNK-BP Chief Operating Officer Tim Summers became acquainted with the progress of the preparatory work on the license areas and gave a high assessment of the results of the winter campaign to transport the necessary equipment and materials to the fields. “The south of Tyumen Oblast is a strategically important region for our company, since it is the site of various projects that will in future play a vital role in TNK-BP’s operations,” Mr. Summers made known.

As reported earlier, in 2007-2009 TNK-BP plans to invest 64 bn rubles in the development of the Uvat group of fields, including more than 19 bn rubles in 2007. By 2011, the company intends to produce up to 3m tonnes of oil per year at the Uvat group of fields.

According to the data presented by Tim Summers, in the best-case scenario the Uvat project has up to 200 m tons of remaining oil reserves. TNK-BP’s Uvat project is made up of 12 licenses. In particular, the Severo-Demyanskiy, Irtyshskiy, Chirpskiy, Ligiyaskiy and Kalchinskiy licenses are officially registered under Tyumenneftegaz (a 100% TNK-BP subsidiary). Registered under TNK-Uvat (also a 100% TNK-BP subsidiary) are the Ust-Tegusskoe, Urnenskiy, Pikhtovyi, Yuzhno-Pihktovyi, Severo-Bolotnyi licenses, while the Ururnyi and Keumskiy licenses are registered under TNK-BP.