JSC Gazprom Neft and JSC Rosneft have successfully completed construction of the first production well at the Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye field (part of the Messoyakha group, the northernmost onshore oilfields in Russia), part of a drilling programme now complete, ahead of schedule.

The high-technology well was constructed under highly challenging geological conditions, requiring the application of innovative technologies and materials. While running to a length of 2,300 metres, the well extends to a comparatively short total depth, of only 840 metres, with a horizontal section of 1,000 metres. The well crosses strata subject to abnormally high pressure and longstanding permafrost, necessitating the application of a unique technology preventing the ingress of soil particles into equipment. Specialist flexible (“elastic”) cement, as well as cement specifically adapted for Arctic conditions, was used in cementing the well, improving outcomes in operating in long-standing permafrost.

Once the Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye fields go into full-scale commercial production in 2016 well stock at these fields is expected to reach 63 units. An intensive drilling programme will be made possible thanks to various initiatives directed at improving operational efficiency: the use of innovative back-filling materials (utilising quick-setting cement) in construction, as well as the use of equipment allowing geological investigations to be undertaken directly, during drilling.

A four-year pilot programme at the Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye fields was completed in spring 2015, and production drilling initiated: development of technical infrastructure having been ongoing since 2014 to allow the field to be brought into production in Q4 2016. Construction of an oil pipeline, connecting the field to the Zapolyarge-Purpe pipeline system, is currently in hand, as well as construction of an 84MW-capacity gas power plant, a central oil gathering station, and other facilities.

The Messoyakha group of fields include the Vostochno (Eastern) and Zapadno (Western) Messoyakhskoye acreages — the northernmost onshore oilfields in Russia. Licenses for prospecting and development at both fields are held by Messoyakhaneftegaz, jointly controlled by JSC Rosneft and JSC Gazprom Neft. Gazprom Neft is the operator on the project. The Messoyakha fields, first discovered in the 1980s, are located in the Gydan Peninsula, in the Tazovsky district of the Yamalo-Nenetsk Autonomous Region, 340 kilometres north of Novy Urengoy, in Russia’s Arctic zone — a region of considerably underdeveloped infrastructure. Proven C1 and C2 reserves indicate 480 million tonnes of oil and gas condensate, as well as more than 180 cubic metres of natural and associated gas. Pilot operations at Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye saw the first oil from this field produced in October 2012.