Sakhalin Island's northeastern coastal shelf is unlikely to be the only commercial offshore oil and gas producing area in the Russian Far East if recently disclosed plans for stepped up exploration in the region are implemented.
And territorial governments in the region are determined to play a major role in offering concession tenders when offshore sectors along their coasts are opened to exploration by foreign companies.
TERRITORIAL PLANS
Across the Tatarsky Strait from Sakhalin, Khabarovsk Territory is reportedly preparing international concession tenders for the right to explore for and develop hydrocarbon resources on its continental shelf.
Magadan Province, which has a prospective area on the Sea of Okhotsk's northern shelf, and Kamchatka Province, which believes hydrocarbons may be found in the Sea of Okhotsk off its southwestern coast, have expressed interest in offering similar tenders with the consent of Russia's Geological Committee and other authorities. Chukotsk Autonomous District also has expressed interest in a possible tender of potentially petroliferous areas in the Bering Sea and in the Chukotsk (Chukchi) Sea above the Arctic Circle.
Interest in Khabarovsk Territory's Tatarsky Strait shelf, formerly regarded as unprospective, was heightened by recent reports of apparently small onshore strikes in the area.
At the northern end of the Sea of Okhotsk, northeast of Sakhalin, at least one exploratory well has been drilled on Magadan Province's shelf by a Russian mobile rig. There were, however, no reports of positive results. In Chukotsk, a number of wells drilled near the town of Anadyr close to Anadyr Gulf in the northwestern sector of the Bering Sea have had good gas flows. Russian explorationists see potential on trend with Alaska's prolific North Slope.
OTHER SAKHALIN POTENTIAL
Sakhalin plans to extend offshore exploration to areas along its entire coastal shelf. Eight offshore sectors have been defined, although none is believed to be as rich in hydrocarbons as the portion of the island's northeastern coastal shelf extending more than 160 miles from the Okha district in the north to below Lunsky Gulf in the south.
No commercial offshore discoveries have been made farther along Sakhalin's Sea of Okhotsk shelf or along Sakhalin's west coast opposite the Siberian mainland.
Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
