OREANDA-NEWS. Drilling of the first horizontal well in Serbia has been successfully completed at the Kikinda Varos oil field, which is being developed by NIS. The results obtained have confirmed the geologic model previously built by NIS specialists.

The well is 2,670 meters deep, with a 250 meter lateral. It took thirty days to complete the work. Well testing is currently underway. So far, the well has produced a gushing flow of waterless oil at a rate of approximately forty tons per day.

The horizontal well at Kikinda Varos field is the first success of similar projects not only in Serbia, but in all the countries of the former Yugoslavia. In the future, NIS plans to use this technology for its new high potential project: the development of the heavy high-viscosity oil from Gaj field, where traditional drilling methods won’t work.

“Using new technologies that boost our company’s performance is one of our priorities. Once the innovations are successfully tested at our fields, we go on to apply the experience at our other assets, including those in Serbia. The use of such technologies as horizontal drilling that are unique for the region enables production growth in such places where it was simply impossible before,” says Gazprom Neft First Deputy CEO and Chairman of the NIS Board of Directors Vadim Yakovlev.