Lukoil, Russia’s largest privately-held oil company, has commissioned the fifth well at the second development stage of the Vladimir Filanovsky field in the Caspian Sea.
Lukoil said that the length of the main wellbore of the new bilateral production well was 2,956 meters, while the lateral’s is 1,735 meters.
The well’s initial flow rate exceeded 3,300 tonnes of oil per day. As a result of the drilling program at the second development stage, the field’s oil production is sustained at its plateau level of 6 million tonnes per year reached in June 2018 . The field’s cumulative oil production has exceeded 10 million tonnes.
The company plans to start drilling the sixth production well shortly. In total, the construction of six production and two injection wells is planned at the field’s second development stage.
Lukoil is also progressing with the third development stage of the field which will develop the western part of the reservoir. The substructure of a wellhead platform was installed offshore at the field in August ; the platform’s topside is currently being assembled with over 70% completion rate.
The topside installation and the wellhead platform commissioning are planned in 2019.
As for the field, Vladimir Filanovsky is considered the largest post-Soviet discovery in Russia. Commercial operation of the field, with C1+C2 reserves, equals 129 million tonnes of oil and 30 billion cubic meters of gas.
The field is located in the northern Caspian Sea, 220 km away from the city of Astrakhan. Water depth in the field’s area ranges from seven to 11 meters.
Phase 1 of the development was commissioned in 2016 and included a fixed ice-resistant platform, an accommodation block platform, a riser block, and a central processing platform. Eight wells were drilled at Phase 1, six of them are production and two injection wells.