OREANDA-NEWS. December 24, 2012. A press conference of Shafagat Takhautdinov, General Director, for representatives of federal and republican mass media was held at the JSC TATNEFT on December 21, 2012. CEO of the Company evaluated the large-scale projects of the current year and announced plans for 2013.

According to the preliminary data the expected volume of crude oil production by the JSC TATNEFT in 2012 will be 26 million tons. Modern methods of enhanced oil recovery will account for about 45 percent of the total Company's crude oil production volume. 296 new production wells will be put into operation.

The extra-viscous oil (EVO) production volume at Ashalchinskoye field will exceed 73 thousand tons in 2012, which is 1.8 times more than last year.

The development of the EVO fields in Tatarstan is a strategic project of the JSC TATNEFT. Ashalchinskoye field is a testing ground for developing new technologies for extraction of unconventional hydrocarbons. The most successful results were obtained by application of the steam-assisted drainage technology. 17 pairs of horizontal wells were drilled and 13 well pairs as well as one huff-and-puff well are in operation. The average daily production rate of these wells reached the level of 275 tons per day. The cumulative oil production from the field will be more than 179 thousand tons. Today, this project is supported at the level of the RF Government in the form of granting export tax exemptions on the extraction of extra-viscous oil. This support is an essential factor for making the EVO production profitable.

The journalists were also interested in the Company's development plans of the territories outside of Tatarstan and Russia, implementation progress of the "TANECO" Hydrocracking projects, as well as the Company's social project, etc.

At the end of the press conference Shafagat Takhautdinov thanked the journalists for their attention to the activities of TATNEFT, for fair and timely coverage of the events of the Company's production and social activities, and he also congratulated the Company's press service on the 20th anniversary of its establishment.