Russia’s latest production partnership will extract oil from a former nuclear blasts testing site.
The Srednebotuobinskoye field, in Eastern Siberia, will be jointly developed by state-owned Rosneft and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), following an agreement between the two sides last week.
More than 100 exploration wells have been drilled at the site since it was discovered in 1970.
But the Russian government today confirmed at least seven “peaceful” nuclear detonations, intended to increase flows from oil-bearing rock, were performed on the site between in the 1970s and 1980s.
The country’s officials, together with Rosneft, denied environmentalist allegations that oil extracted from the site would be contaminated with radiation.
It is not clear if CNPC knew about the field’s past.
The Srednebotuobinskoye field holds oil and gas condensate reserves of more than 134million tonnes and over 155billion cubic metres of gas.
It is expected to produce 20,000 barrels of oil per day in 2014, rising to more than 100,000 bpd in 2017.
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