The Uvat group of fields is located in the south of the Tyumen Region in West Siberia, over 700 km away from the city of Tyumen. The first appraisal well at Uvat was drilled over 50 years ago; however, remoteness, swampy land and complicated reservoir architecture did not allow to find ways for economic development of the field at the time. Uvat licenses were originally purchased by TNK but the field’s active development started after TNK-BP was formed.
Work at Uvat started in 2004 with careful study of geological models of the Urnenskoye and Ust-Tegusskoye fields. 3D seismic was key to the project – together with modern interpretation and processing techniques it ensured better understanding of the reservoir’s complex structure and helped to define the best locations to drill wells.
Based on gathered geological data, a field development plan was put together, and in 2006 a completely new stage for Uvat began – development of Ust-Tegusskoye and Urnenskoye fields. In the past, only one field in the Uvat group – Kalchinskoye – was developed, producing 1.2 million tons of oil in 2008.
Today, the Uvat group of fields consists of 15 license areas (21 fields) with resource potential of 250 million tons of oil. In February 2009 the commercial production of oil at the Urnenskoye and the Ust-Tegusskoye fields (East Uvat) started, to reach around 2 million tons by the end of the year. In 2010, TNK-BP will launch pilot production at the Tyamkinskoye field (Central Uvat). The cumulative oil production at the Uvat group of fields during the whole stage of its development is expected at 75 million tons.
TNK-BP will invest a total of 160 billion rubles in the development of Uvat. Over the
TNK-BP contracts highly ranked international service companies, which provide advanced technologies in exploratory drilling, data for mathematical modeling and a full range of geophysical services. These companies include KCA Deutag, Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes. The scientific and research work is coordinated by the Tyumen Scientific Oil Center.
As the project progresses, logistics will remain a difficult task. For the nearest term, the company had to delay construction of the motor road – the growth in costs if the road were built at current prices for goods and services could undermine the economics of the Uvat project (currently, due to isolation and lack of infrastructure, equipment and materials can only be delivered to Uvat by a winter road; people are brought in by helicopter). In future, a 50 kilometer road may be built to Slavneft’s Tailakovskoye field. Under an alternative scenario, the motor road would be constructed gradually, along with the development of other fields as the company moves westward from Ust-Tegusskoye and Urnenskoye fields.
Developing the fields’ facilities will require significant investment but it may eventually alter the region’s infrastructure. First of all, the development of Uvat will substantially increase tax payments to the region’s budget. Additionally, the development of Uvat will stimulate industrial development of the south of the Tyumen Region and create close to 12 thousand jobs in the region.
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