Salym Petroleum Development Drills 900th Well

On 25 May 2014 Salym Petroleum Development N.V. (SPD) drilled its 900th well on the Salym group of fields since the execution of the Salym Project began in 2003. The anniversary well, 3150 meters deep, was drilled on the Upper Salym field in 14.41 days. It’s a first sub-horizontal well to BS-8 formation in SPD.

Salym Petroleum Development is a 50/50 Joint Venture of Shell Salym Development B.V. (part of Shell group) and Gazprom Neft. Since 2003, SPD has been developing the Salym group of oilfields (West Salym, Upper Salym and Vadelyp), which are located in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug in Western Siberia. Total recoverable resources are 140 mln. tones. The Salym Project is one of the largest on-shore investment projects with foreign capital in the Russian energy sector. In 2013, SPD produced about 7 mln. tons of oil.

“In the 10 years of the Salym Project our drilling campaign has been a journey of continuous improvement.  Initially the focus was the reduction of drilling time, more recently we are looking at methods and technologies which enable construction of deeper and technologically more sophisticated wells.  The challenge SPD is facing today in well construction is to drill geologic horizons which are new for the company – Achimov, Bazhenov, and Tyumen.  These formations require different types of wells in order to provide economic viable developments. To this end, SPD needs to construct highly deviated and horizontal wells capable of withstanding higher pressures.  Once again the success of Well Engineering will play an important role in the continued development of the Salym group of fields,” Peter van Welsenes, Well Engineering Manager, noted.

SPD spudded the first development well in 2004 on the West Salym field. Throughout the decade of intensive operations, SPD reduced average standard well drilling time from 30 to 8.5 days, with a record breaker of 4.5 days. The total length of wells constructed on the Salym group of fields exceeds 2,700 km. Moreover, all wells were drilled in compliance with high HSE standards. The drilling program for the Salym group of fields provides for construction of 1,000+ wells, including technologically sophisticated ones. In particular, SPD is planning to drill 5 horizontal Bazhenov appraisal wells in 2014-2015.

Source: SPD Corporate Affairs Department