Editor's Letter

New Year Hangover Left You Feeling Fuzzy? Maybe It’s Just the Year of the Rabbit

Pat Davis Szymczak

   Happy New Year! Judging from what’s going on in the futures trading market, oil prices are likely to break through the $100-a...

Russia Might Gain from North African Chaos — An Expert View from Cairo

Tatneft has joined Wintershall, Repsol, RWE and ENI in shutting down their production in Libya. But with the chaos escalating in North Africa, Russian oil and gas companies might yet benefit, if over the longer term, they are willing to shoulder the risk. That is the opinion of Dianne Sutherland, Chief Editor and Publisher of Petroleum Africa Magazine in Cairo, who provided Oil&Gas Eurasia with this commentary.

SPE Brings Foreign Experience to Noyabrsk Oilmen

Employees at Noyabrskneftegaz, a Gazprom net subsidiary, recently gained expertise in their industry from SPE lecturer Jose Carlos (J. C.) Cunha (Petrobras America, Inc.). Cunha spoke on risk analysis applications for Drilling, Production and Reservoir management as well as basic means to develop such applications.

Choosing the Optimum Artificial Lift System Methodology

   The aim of this Artificial Lift System Methodology Selection (ALS MS) study is to select the most appropriate artificial lift method according to conditions and limitations in reservoir, well and surface. After gathering the information it was possible to develop representative well computer models to simulate the real wells’ behavior as close as possible.

Kashagan to Feed CPC. Kazakhstan’s giant oilfield set to become a new resource base for the ever-growing pipe

   An outstanding event took place on Dec. 15 in Moscow: the paperwork set to more than double the capacity of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline from 33 to 67 million tons per year was signed by Russia’s Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, Kazakhstan’s Oil and Gas Deputy Minister Lyazzat Kiinov, Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev, KazMunaiGaz President Kairgeldy Kabyldin and CPC general director Nikolai Platonov.

LARGEO Managing Director Alexander Yakovlev, “Seismic Sector Lacks Investment”

   The establishment of the LARGEO-ION/GXT alliance in 2008 helped Russian LARGEO enforce its positions on the Russian market of seismic data processing and interpretation. For the first time in the world, the joint enterprise used the 3D Surface Related Multiple Elimination method in a large-scale marine project for Rosneft in the Black Sea.

Russia May Amend Subsoil Law to Draw Foreign Firms Revised legislation would provide access to strategic fields and spur investments in the offshore sector

   Russia’s Natural Resources Ministry is pushing for amendments to the country’s current legislation “On Mineral Resources” which would allow foreign companies to have bigger access to Russia’s vast oil reserves, particularly those located offshore.

NOR Prepares Beachhead for Russian Technology Breakthrough

   Nanotechnologies and nano-applications have become a favorite topic in both the Russian media and at science conferences of late. Growing attention to processes that take place inside the space of one-billionth of a meter is not merely the new fashion – the fascination stems from ongoing scientific development combined with correct understanding of the problem, says Aleksandr Khavkin, co-director of the Oil and Gas Nanotechnology bureau section and member of the board of the Russian Nanotechnology Society (NOR).

NOVATEK Gets a Slice of Gazprom’s Pie

   A month ago Russia’s largest independent gas producer, NOVATEK, became the owner of core gas assets previously owned by gas monopolist Gazprom. NOVATEK’s development has recently accelerated and industry observers attribute that to Gennady Timchenko, the co-owner of the key Russian oil trader Gunvor, who has recently joined the company; and to Gazprom’s shrinking share of production in Russia.

Shale Gas: Great Expectations, Modest Plans

   Shale gas is a name for methane contained in highly сlayish layers:  aleurites, argillites and shales. Such deposits have long been known to exist. In 1981, just as the United States approved the Windfall Profit Tax Act, limited gas influx was received from the thick aleurite layer on the Barnett Shale field in Texas. But then, at gas prices of $56-70 per 1,000 cubic meters (Fig. 1), low debit rates ensured production was unprofitable.

TNK-BP Posts Another Industry First Russia’s third-largest oil producer pioneers ESP-ESP dual completion at Ust-Tegusskoye field

   The majority of TNK-BP fields contain multiple stratified oil reservoirs. In many cases the fluid properties, geological parameters and reservoir pressure conditions are such that each reservoir has to be developed separately, as dictated by legislation. This means additional drilling grids or producing zones consecutively over time using same wellbore. First option implies heavy CAPEX commitments, while the other means significant production delay with drastic negative impact on NPV.

Sakhalin-1 Project Drills World’s Longest Extended-Reach Well

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) announced today that its subsidiary, Exxon Neftegas Limited, has successfully drilled the world’s longest extended-reach well at the Odoptu field, offshore far east Russia. Exxon Neftegas is the operator of the Sakhalin-1 Project on behalf of an international consortium that includes affiliates of the Russian state company Rosneft RN-Astra and Sakhalinmorneftegas-Shelf; the Japanese corporation SODECO; and the Indian state oil company ONGC Videsh Ltd.