| 2006-07-01 |
Îïóáëèêîâàíî: Kommersant, No. 118 |
ITERA Oil and Gas Company Board of Directors decided to invest USD 25 mln in oil exploration in Kalmykia Republic.
According to the Republic Government the major part of the funds will be invested in the promising Priyutnensky license area.
The experts believe that depletion of explored fields makes the major oil companies return to the Russian South, earlier considered the chief oil-bearing region of the country.
Eugeny Ostapov, ITERA press secretary, said that in 2003 Yugneftegaz acquired 11 license areas for exploration with the total acreage of 23,000 sq. km. Yugnefetgaz is a joint company established in 2002 by ITERA (70% stake) and Kalmykia Republic Government (30% stake). According to ITERA experts, hydrocarbon reserves are estimated at 19.8 billion of oil equivalent, including 8.2 billion of oil and 11.6 BCM of gas (geologists are to evaluate ITERA’s own acreage).
ITERA Board of Directors decided to spend US 25 million to Kalmykia exploration, focusing on Priuytnensky area that is 50 km from Elista city. Also, Yugneftegaz will collect seismic data of Yustinskoye and Ketchenerovskoye fields.
ITERA Oil & Gas company was established in 1992 and has been implementing gas projects since 1994. ITERA has 150 representative offices, subsidiaries and affiliated companies in Russia, FSU, Baltic States, Europe and USA. Since 1998 ITERA has been developing its own gas production in Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region, Western Siberia. ITERA has 63.5% stake in Yugneftegaz and 66.25% in Sibneftegaz. ITERA net profit in 2005 was $ 44.273 million.
According to the recent Board of Directors meeting the seismic survey data is likely to prove 2.3 billion tons oil reserves in Kalmykia, which is comparable to Astrakhanskoye, Tengizskoye, Karachaganskoye and Orenburgskoye oil fields.
This gave grounds to Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Kalmikya President, who took part in the meeting, to suppose that in a few years Kalmykia production would be comparable to that of Tuymen Region i.e. in excess of one million tons per year (in recent years it was just over 300 thousand tons).
According to the experts, Priuytnensky area is one of the most complicated acreage in the region: due to the depth (5 km) the production will require considerable investments. ITERA spent $10 mln just on one well. Nevertheless, Kalmykia exploration tends to be promising.
According to Rosnedra experts the depletion of explored fields brings the oil majors back to the Russian South, which has been considered the largest oil-bearing region of the country.
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