RECHITSA DISTRICT, 10 January (BelTA) – The Belarusian industrial group Belorusneft has discovered three new deposits of hydrocarbon resources in Rechitsa District, Gomel Oblast, BelTA has learned.
The new oil extraction potential was uncovered in the southern block of the Gartsevskoye oil field of the Pripyat Trough. The discovered deposits represent strata of the Sargayev horizon, the Semiluki horizon, and the Voronezh horizon. While probing deposits of the Voronezh horizon over 4,000m below the surface the drilling crew secured an oil influx of 100 tonnes per day, BelTA learned from Belorusneft Deputy Director General for Geology Piotr Povzhik.
According to preliminary estimates, the in-place reserves make up at least 800,000 tonnes. “It is quite a good increase in the reserves, an average potential. We intend to build at least 7-9 new production wells here. Taking into account the existing production parameters there are reasons to believe every well will be able to produce at least 50 tonnes of oil per day,” Piotr Povzhik noted.
In turn, Director of the oil industry research institute BelNIPIneft Aleksandr Tsybrankov pointed out high parameters of the oil extracted from the new wells. “Oil from the Gartsevskoye oil field has low density and high quality. It is fluid. The classic method will be used here for commercial extraction,” he said.
To confirm his projections, the head of the institute demonstrated a drill sample. “The drill sample has been extracted from depth of over 4,000 meters. It shows a classic carbonite slice. The vivid oil segments ranging from light varieties to dark brown ones indicate the rock contains quality hydrocarbons,” he explained. On the whole, according to Aleksandr Tsybrankov, oil extracted from Belarusian oil fields is of rather good quality. It has low sulfur content, it is fluid and light. Respectively the output of light oil products from refining such oil is rather high.
The construction of the oil well is nearing completion. The well is supposed to be commissioned in April 2020. The available resources will be ascertained meanwhile.
Deputy Head, Chief Engineer of Belorusneft's Svetlogorsk Drilling Department Sergei Legenky compared well drilling to jeweler's work. “Drilling crews have to go through salt and clay deposits, which tend to collapse. The work proceeds in any weather conditions. However, we allow no off-nominal situations. We use modern technologies and equipment, including a rotary steerable system,” he said. The construction of this particular well required slightly more than two months. Apart from the drilling crew supervisors from Belorusneft's oil and gas production department Rechitsaneft and other assets were involved in the project.
There are plans to drill a total of seven exploratory wells in the new oil deposit in 2020-2021. Seismic exploration operations will continue in the Makanovichsky-Velikoborsky area, which the Gartsevskoye oil field is part of, in 2020. It will allow clarifying the geological structure and further operations in the Gartsevskoye oil field. The available data allows making projections for the next ten years. Belorusneft intends to put efforts into exploration operations and production drilling in this period.
The project inventory has been expanded thanks to the discovery of the new oil fields in Rechitsa District, Gomel Oblast. Thanks to that the oil extraction volume is now comparable to that registered during the Soviet Union period when all the figures were at their highest. “On the whole, as far as oil extraction is concerned, we are on par with the level of 2008-2009. After a certain period of decline we see a confident trend for growing extraction volumes. A great step forward has been made over the course of the last ten years,” Piotr Povzhik underlined.
There is a total of 61 producing oil fields in Belarus, with 843 wells in operation. Belorusneft extracted 1.69 million tonnes of oil in 2019 and intends to extract 1.71 million tonnes in 2020. Oil extraction figures are expected to continue growing.
The Belarusian industrial group Belorusneft was founded in 1966. The company specializes in exploration, prospecting, and development of oil fields, well drilling, extraction of oil and associated petroleum gas. Belorusneft also offers oil industry services in other countries.
