Volga Gas Updates on Russian Operations
Russian gas and oil exploration and production group Volga Gas has announced an operations update on its work in the Volga region of Russia.
The company says it will resume operations on the Dobrinskoye field, which had been producing in 2010. The well had to be shut in in June this year due to water encroachment, but Volga says it will drill a sidetrack to the existing well #22. Volga will commence the sidetracking in early 2012.
Volga says the well will be sidetracked into the main reservoir and completed for production and is expected to constitute a "substantial" proportion of future field production. Well #26, currently the sole well on the field, is producing at a rate of 6.0 mmcf/d gas plus 448 bpd of condensate, the company said.
Volga also said that it has encountered successful results with a sulphur processing on gas at the Dobrinskoye gas plant. The plant is taking gas from the Vostochny Makarovskoye gas/condensate field. The company has begun work to upgrade the gas plant to provide additional capacity and sulphur treatment.
The Dobrinskoye gas plant currently connects to two production wells on the Vostochny Makarovskoye field, VM#1 and VM#2, which are producing gas from the Evlansko-Livenskiy reservoir. A third well, well #30, is due to be worked over in 2012. Volga expects well #30, which achieved a flow rate of over 7.4 mmcf/d under flow test from the Bobrikovskiy reservoir, to be connected to the Dobrinskoye plant. Work on a fourth production well, VM#4, is planned for 2013.
Chief Executive of Volga Gas, Mikhail Ivanov, said that, despite disappointing results on its oil exploration prospects, the company was very pleased with its gas operations.
"We are excited with the programme of development drilling that we are commencing and especially with the project to bring the VM field into production," he said.
"Successful completion of this programme will enable Volga Gas to achieve substantially increased production in 2012, from the current total Group production of approximately 2,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day, and consequently increased cash generation."