Rosneft and ExxonMobil have signed a Pilot Development Agreement for a joint project to assess the possibility of commercial production of tight oil reserves at the Bazhenov and Achimov formations in Western Siberia.
Under the joint venture, the companies will run a pilot program for potential commercial production at Rosneft’s 23 license blocks covering a total area of more than 10,000 square kilometers. Rosneft has 51 per cent equity interests and ExxonMobil has 49 per cent. Drilling will begin in 2013.
“Maximizing production efficiency at every field and exploring new technologies to exploit the potential of tight reservoirs is a strategic priority for Rosneft,” said president and chairman of the management board at Rosnef, Igor Sechin. “I am certain that our experience and infrastructure in Western Siberia, coupled with the state-of-the-art technologies of our partner ExxonMobil, will allow us to begin developing large tight oil reserves.”
Upon completion of the pilot program, Rosneft and ExxonMobil will jointly select blocks for commercial development in 2015. The two companies will draw on their technical and production experience to ensure commercially viable development and potential production growth in Russia’s West Siberian basin.
“The strategic combination of Rosneft’s operational experience in the area and ExxonMobil’s advanced technology gains from tight oil experience in North America and elsewhere provides a strong capability to fully evaluate and potentially develop this large tight oil resource,” said chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corporation, Rex Tillerson.
