Rosneft, Lukoil Start North Caspian Exploration Well

Rosneft and Lukoil began the construction of prospecting and appraisal well № 1 at Ribachya structure as part of geologic exploration of North Caspian licensed site, situated in a Russian sector of North Caspian water area.

The project is operated by the Caspian Oil Company. The planned drilling depth is 1650 meters. The aim of well drilling is to explore the geologic structure and to detect oil and gas deposits, as well as to evaluate their commercial significance.

The participants of the project pay special attention to strict requirements of ecological security of works at Caspian shelf and to security of sea wells drilling and exploitation adherence.

In terms of the Plan on prevention and response to emergency situations at building prospecting and appraisal well № 1 at Ribachya structure a session of training maneuvers was successfully held. The topic of the training was response to sea accidents of regional significance using emergency response teams.

In 2007 Rosneft bought a share in Caspian Oil Company, which holds licenses for performing geological and exploration works at the North Caspian licensed site in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea. The project operator is Caspian Oil Company, established by Rosneft (49.892 %), Lukoil (49.892 %) and Gazprom (0.216 %).

More than 10 good structures were detected within the limits of the North Caspian site. The prospective resources are estimated 260 mln tons (1.9 bln barrels) and 55 bcm of gas.

The well construction at Ribachya structure is performed by Astra rig.

Press Release, June 20, 2014