TNK-Uvat

TNK-Uvat is developing the Uvat group of fields, located in the southern part of West Siberia’s Tyumen Region, over 700 km from the city of Tyumen.

The company owns the subsoil licences for 9 blocks: Urnenskiy, Ust-Tegusskiy, Pikhtovyi, Yuzhno-Pikhtovyi, Tamarginsko-Severo-Bolotnyi, Gerasimovskiy, Zapadno-Gerasimovskiy, Vostochno-Gerasimovskiy, and Katysskiy.

The first parametric well at Uvat was drilled a full 50 years ago, but for a long time afterwards it was not possible to ensure cost-effective development due to remoteness, marshy terrain and complicated structure of the field’s reservoirs. Active development of the fields started only when TNK-BP arrived on the scene.

The Uvat project was launched in 2004 with a study of the geological models of the Urnenskoye and Ust-Tegusskoye fields. The key to the project was 3D seismic which, in conjunction with modern data processing and interpretation techniques, made it possible to understand the complex reservoir structure and select optimal well locations. The new data was used to draw up a field development plan, and by 2006 Uvat had moved into a fundamentally new phase with the commencement of development work at the Ust-Tegusskoye and Urnenskoye fields.

In winter of 2006 — 2007, winter roads were built to transport fuel, drill rigs and other materials and equipment to the fields, and the drilling crews began their work. In 2008, the total number of wells drilled within the Uvat project reached 70. Well tests not only confirmed, but even exceeded initial expectations: the data collected led to a new understanding of the geology and of the reservoirs’ structure and potential. Exploration and appraisal drilling in TNK-Uvat’s license blocks during 2008 resulted in a reserves increment of 25.5 million tons.

In 2008, 5,900 tons of oil was produced at the Urnenskoye and Ust-Tegusskoye fields, and the target for 2009 is 1.5 million tons. In February 2009, a 264-kilometer pipeline was commissioned between the Ust-Tegusskoye and Kalchinskoye fields, the latter with an existing connection to the Transneft pipeline system. ON 16 February 2009, in the presence of Deputy Russian Prime Minister Igor Sechin, the President’s Representative for the Urals Federal District Nikolay Vinnichenko, the Head of the Subsoil Usage Agency Anatoliy Ledovskikh, the Governor of Tyumen Region Vladimir Yakushev, and TNK-BP’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Summers and Executive Director German Khan, the first phase of the central oil gathering station at the Ust-Tegusskoye field was launched. This marked the startup of commercial operation of the Ust-Tegusskoye and Urnenskoye fields by TNK-BP.

Phase 1 of the oil gathering station has a capacity of 2 mmtpa, which will be expanded to a total of 6 mmtpa upon completion of the final construction phase. In 2010, TNK-Uvat plans to commission its own gas turbine power station, boosting associated gas utilization to a peak level of 99.8%.