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Annual report 2011
Timan-Pechora
The Timan-Pechora oil province provided 19.3% of
Company production in 2011. Output by LUKOIL
in the province declined by 17.1% to 17.5 million
tonnes, due to lower production levels at the Yuzhno-
Khylchuyuskoye field, but Timan-Pechora still has
great potential. In 2011 LUKOIL and Bashneft Oil
Company set up a joint venture for development
of the R. Trebs and A. Titov oil fields, which are located
in the province. Timan-Pechora also has the largest
share of LUKOIL’s heavy oil reserves, which are located
at the Yaregskoye and Usinskoye fields.
The Yaregskoye field has proved reserves of
318 million barrels of high-viscosity oil under SEC
classification (3P reserves are 540 million barrels).
Production at the field mainly uses a shaft technique.
Work began in test mode during 2011 to
improve heat treatment applications by use of a
new drilling rig which enables wells to be drilled to a
length of 800 m (2.5 times longer than traditional
wells). Use of the new drilling rig, together with use
of boring combines, will substantially reduce spending
on preparation for development of slanted blocks
and will raise productivity.
Five pairs of production and injection wells were
drilled at the Lyaelskaya area of the Yaregskoye field
in 2011 with horizontal completions and borehole
length up to 1,100 m. The purpose of this test work
is to obtain know-how in use of horizontal boreholes
for injection and production purposes. The technology
is similar to Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage
(SAGD), which is being applied in production from
oil sands in Canada, and the tests have confirmed its
efficiency.
The Permian-Carbonaceous deposit at the Usinskoye
field was brought into operation in 1977 and
proved reserves in the deposit to SEC standards as of
January 1, 2012 were 430 million barrels (3P reserves
of the field were 680 million barrels). The deposit
is characterized by highly varied structure of its
carbonate reservoir, which contains high-viscosity
oil, and thermal methods are being used to assist
production. Most of the reserves at the deposit are
being extracted by natural means. Extensive steam
injection is being carried out at steam-heat impact
zones in order to increase the recovery factor as
well as steam-cycle treatment at various wells located
over the entire extent of the deposit (combined
with injection of chemical reagents in some cases).
Additional oil production since thermal methods
began to be used at the deposit is in excess of
6.1 million tonnes.
Extensive thermal treatment of strata via a system
of horizontal wells is being used at a sector of the
deposit for the first time. In 2012 LUKOIL plans tests
at the deposit using perpendicular gravitational
drainage of strata.
Highest production growth rates in Timan-Pechora in
2011 were achieved at the Yuzhno-Yuryakhinskoye
field, where the increase in output compared with
2010 was 214,400 tonnes (+233%). The production
increase reflects well completions: six new wells
were brought into production and gave average daily
oil flows of 204.3 tonnes.
Five new wells are scheduled to enter production
at the Yuzhno-Yuryakhinskoye field in 2012.
The Company’s development program for Exploration
and Production business segment foresees
rapid development of the field and further increase
of oil production rates there.
Urals
Production of oil by LUKOIL in the Urals region
increased to 12.9 million tonnes in 2011, or by
3.5%, thanks to use of new technologies, such
as sidetracks, radial drilling and acid hydrofracturing.
The Urals accounted for 14.2% of total
production by the Company during 2011, compared
with a figure of 13.0% in 2010.
Production of oil at the Unvinskoye field, which
has top priority for the Company in the region, grew
by 9.8% in 2011 to 1.7 million tonnes, thanks mainly
to extensive use of modern enhanced recovery
technologies as well as production drilling. A total
of 10 sidetracks were drilled, giving average daily oil
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