Putin Opens Russia's Latest Oil Field in the Caspian Sea

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially opened commercial oil production at the Vladimir Filanovsky field in the Caspian Sea, owned and operated by oil and gas producer OAO Lukoil (Moscow, Russia) (PINK:LUKOY).

The Filanovsky field was discovered by Lukoil in 2005 and is Russia's largest oil discovery for the past 25 years. It is the second field commissioned by the company in the Russian offshore sector of the Caspian Sea. The field's С1+С2 recoverable reserves are estimated at 129 million tons of crude oil and 30 billion cubic meters of gas. The annual oil production at the plateau is estimated at 6 million tons.

Two horizontal production wells have been drilled, capable of yielding a total daily flow rate of over 6,000 tons--45,000 barrels--of oil. Construction of a third well is under way. The light, sweet crude oil lifted from the wells is transported via a subsea pipeline to the onshore storage facilities and subsequently fed into the Caspian Pipeline Consortium system for further exports. The associated petroleum gas is transported to the gas processing unit at Lukoil's Stavrolen plant for further conversion into petrochemical products and to supply its power plants.

"I would like to congratulate Lukoil and everyone on your large team--shipbuilders and related specialists--who have worked to launch the commercial operation of the Filanovsky oil field," said Putin at the event. "This is a serious, significant step in developing Russia's oil and gas industry, and for the Caspian Sea region it offers the promise of further development -- not only its oil and gas sector but related enterprises as well. It's also very important that the work is expected to go on for decades to come. This means there will be orders for steel workers and those who manufacture pipes and cables. And of course, this makes a significant contribution to the development of the national economy as a whole."

The first stage of the field development has seen the construction of numerous facilities including the ice-resistant stationary platform, the living quarters platform and the central treatment platform, alongside the riser unit, onshore storage facilities and the subsea and onshore oil and gas pipeline system with a total length of over 650 kilometres (km). Lukoil has invested approximately 150 billion roubles ($2.35 billion) to date into the construction of the facilities, the development of the field, the transportation infrastructure, the processing of gas, petrochemicals and power generation.

The second stage of the field development is under way, including construction of the second ice-resistant stationary platform and living quarters platform.

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