SPD begins exploratory drilling in Bazhenov field

Salym Petroleum Development NV (SPD) has begun drilling its first horizontal appraisal well in the Bazhenov formation in Upper Salym. Four more horizontal appraisal wells are scheduled to be drilled with multifrac technology in 2014-15 as part of the pilot project.

SPD in the last 3 years has drilled three vertical exploration wells in Upper Salym, shot 3D seismic, and conducted coring and well logging.

“Results of preliminary studies demonstrated that the approach taken by SPD can enable the company develop hard-to-recover resources in an environmentally safe and efficient manner,” said Oleg Karpushin, SPD chief executive officer.

“We hope that the pilot project will allow us and our shareholders to make decision about moving to a large-scale development of Bazhenov formation in the Salym fields,” Karpushin said.

SPD is a joint venture of Shell Salym Development BV and Gazprom Neft.