Rosneft discovers unique gas field in Kara Sea
The State Reserves Commission has acknowledged Rosneft Oil Company’s discovery of an Arctic gas field in the Kara Sea and has recommended the Russian Federal Geological Foundation (RosGeolFond) to put the field on the state register as per Rosneft’s estimates of 800 billion cubic metres of gas deposits.
To mark the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, and in memory of the great commanders, the field has been named after Marshal Georgy Zhukov. According to the current reserve classification, it is considered unique.
The field was discovered following exploratory drilling on Vikulovskaya structure at the East-Prinovozemelsky-1 license area. The wildcat was 1,621 metres deep. Rosneft arranged for exploratory drilling on two license areas in the Kara Sea in 2020. The drilling was part of Rosneft Oil Company’s comprehensive programme to develop the region’s oil and gas potential.
The project had been commenced by President of Russia Vladimir Putin in 2014. The first wildcat, Universitetskaya-1, had resulted in the discovery of one of the world’s largest oil and gas fields, the Pobeda field. Its total recoverable reserves stand at some 130 million tonnes of oil and 422 billion cubic metres of gas.
Overall, more than 30 prospective structures were identified in the three East-Prinovozemelsky areas of the Kara Sea. The results of Rosneft’s drilling in the Kara Sea showed the high oil and gas potential of said structures, which proves the discovery of a new Kara offshore oil province. In terms of resources, it could surpass such oil and gas-bearing provinces as the Gulf of Mexico, the Brazilian shelf, the Arctic shelf of Alaska and Canada, and the major provinces of the Middle East.
Specialists from the TomskNIPIneft corporate institute carried out a study of the physical and chemical properties and composition of crude oil obtained from the Universitetskaya-1 well. This ultra-light crude exceeds Brent as well as Siberian Light and WTI in key indicators (gravity and sulphur content) and is comparable in performance with the Vietnam offshore White Tiger field crude. At that, the Pobeda crude has less than 0.02% of sulphur content, while Brent has 0.2-1.0% and Urals has 1.2-1.3%.
