Officials of Russia's Central Geophysical Expedition (CGE), MD Seis USA Inc., and local oil production associations in the Russian and Kazakhstan republics have unveiled another group of upstream joint venture opportunities in the C.I.S.
This fifth round includes packages offered in 17 areas covering 21 fields holding an estimated 28 billion bbl of oil in place. Data packages on the areas are offered for sale through MD Seis.
CGE officials said the offering involves a variety of opportunities--well stimulation, enhanced oil recovery, and exploration.
At a presentation in Houston, Nikolay N. Lisovsky stressed that the offering has been approved by the oil ministries of both republics. Lisovsky is director, Department of Geology, Oil Industry Committee, Russian Ministry of Fuel and Energy.
Georgy N. Gogonenkov, senior deputy director of the Russian Ministry of Oil and Gas Industry's geophysical processing center, said in the 2 years since the first package was presented, three joint ventures have been established and registered as a result of the offerings, four others are pending registration, and 12 more are being negotiated between foreign companies and local production associations.
Including the latest package, fields offered for joint ventures have contained a total of about 100 billion bbl of oil in place, MD Seis said. Seven fields or areas contain more than 5 billion bbl.
Gogonenkov said no joint ventures have been formed to conduct exploration, possibly because foreign companies are skeptical of reserves estimates made for the offered areas. But he cited one large discovery in an area for which there had been no takers, saying "there may be more interest now" in exploration ventures.
Gogonenkov also said it may be possible to have a production sharing contract for some of the areas in this latest offering. A model production sharing contract is being drafted for government approval.
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