Russia’s Volga Gas has boosted year-on-year production levels by 23% and is looking at another upswing in activity as it brings new assets on stream.
The group recorded total production in April at 7,553 boepd – on average 23% above the equivalent levels in 2016.
Production was boosted over the period with the increased use of processing capacity at the Dobrinskoye gas plant and workovers on the Uzen oil field which took effect during the second half of 2016.
The Russian domestic oil market in early 2017 also exhibited less disruption than seen in the previous two years since the downturn.
And realised prices after adjusting for export taxes and transport costs, increased to $34 per barrel during the first four months of 2017, compared to approximately US$22 per barrel in the same period of 2016.
Andrey Zozulya, chief executive of Volga Gas, said: “I am pleased to report that the assets of the group are continuing to perform strongly and that the group has been able to deliver significant increases in revenue and cash generation during the first four months of 2017.
“Volga Gas has a competitive business and a robust balance sheet which will provide a strong base for the current operations and for further growth in the future.
“Management is looking forward to delivering further increases to the group’s production and profitability through the successful completion of ongoing projects, to maximising the potential of the group’s assets and to seek further opportunities to add value.”
Drilling operations on the firm’s main gas/condensate field, Vostochny Makarovskoye (“VM”) were concluded during 2015.
The current activity on the field comprises minor improvements to production management systems and a planned workover on the second production well. There will be a total of five productive wells on the VM field, although the current output from just three of these is sufficient to supply the gas plant with its current effective gas processing capacity of 1 million m3 per day, equivalent to 35.3 mmcf/d.
More material development activity is under way on the producing oil field, Uzenskoye.
A rig to drill the new horizontal well on the undeveloped Albian reservoir in the field was mobilised during April and drilling commenced as planned on April 27. Operations are expected to continue for between six and eight weeks. The results of this operation are expected to be available during July 2017.
As a result of these activities, oil production capacity is expected to increase from approximately 800 bpd to over 1,500 bpd, depending on the actual results of the horizontal well.
The Dobrinskoye Gas Plant has been running consistently at close to the maximum processing rate of 1 million m3 per day of gas since July 2016.
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