Lukoil reports on size of latest Caspian find

Russia's Lukoil estimated on April 20 that its latest hydrocarbon discovery in the Russian Caspian Sea was 140-150mn metric tons of oil equivalent, or 1.0-1.1bn barrels of oil equivalent, in size.

Lukoil found the deposit in April 2021 after drilling a well at the Titonskaya structure. The company revealed its resource estimate in a post on its Telegram channel last week, noting it had test-flowed gas and condensate from a second, appraisal well at the site. Its assessment will be submitted to Russia's state reserves commission.

Lukoil is among the most active players in the Caspian Sea. Since entering the region in the 1990s it has made ten hydrocarbons in Russian waters. It brought the first of these fields, Korchagin, into production in 2011, followed by a second, Filanovsky, in 2016. Its third, Grayfer, is on track to start up in either 2022 or 2023.

Beyond Russia's Caspian zone, Lukoil is also a shareholder in Azerbaijan's offshore Shah Deniz field, where it expanded its stake from 9.9% to 19.99% in February through a $1.45bn deal with Malaysia's Petronas. It has also teamed up with Kazakhstan's national oil company Kazmunaygas to explore the Zhenis and Al Farabi blocks off that country's coast, and has shares in the Kvalynskoye and Tsentralnoye gas fields that straddle Kazakhstan and Russia's shared maritime border.