Sakhalin 1 puts Odoptu on radar
The ExxonMobil-led Sakhalin 1 consortium is planning to move the world's largest drilling rig, Yastreb, to a new location in the north-west of Sakhalin Island as it prepares to push on with the development of its second oilfield, Odoptu.
The rig was installed on the shore of the Okhotsk Sea in August 2002 to drill extended reach wells into the Chayvo offshore field, which the consortium chose as a priority development because of its large oil rim eight to 11 kilometres offshore.
Sakhalin Projects director Lev Brodsky said Sakhalin 1 operator Exxon Neftegaz is already working to prepare infrastructure.
Sakhalin Projects is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft, which has a 20% stake in Sakhalin 1.
According to Exxon Neftegaz, Yastreb has just completed drilling the Z-12 development well into Chayvo, which set up a new world record for extended reach drilling.
The company said that Z-12 well achieved a measured depth of 38,322 feet, which exceeds the previous world record by 1306 feet, set in 2007 by the project's Z-11 well.
The new well is aimed at helping the consortium to slow the natural decline of oil output from Chayvo, as the Odoptu field is set to start commercial oil production only after 2010.
The Odoptu development has been delayed as Sakhalin 1 was seeking to monetise its gas assets.
However, consortium plans for an export gas pipeline to China or Japan have been blocked by gas monopoly Gazprom.
Brodsky said the consortium will proceed with the Odoptu development, while still making attempts to sell the excess of gas.
The company is capable of producing at least 8 billion cubic metres of gas per year, as well as 3 Bcm per year that it had committed to supply to nearby Khabarovsk region in Russia.
Exxon Neftegaz will bring in a jack-up rig this summer to drill an exploration well on Arkutun-Dagi, the consortiums third, and as yet untapped, field. The well, which aims to give a greater understanding of the structure of the field, will have two boreholes, Brodsky said.
Exxon Neftegaz is planning to install a gravity-based concrete platform on Arkutun-Dagi, with subsea tie-ins to development wells. The field is too far from shore to be tapped with extended reach wells.
The consortium plans to choose the location for building the foundation for the gravity based platform soon.
Several locations on Sakhalin Island and the existing dock at the port of Vostochny are being considered, Brodsky said.