The Bazhen Technology Centre (a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft) has undertaken the first 18-stage fracking operation in Russia, at the Bazhenov Formation. High-tech fracking, coupled with the extended length of the horizontal section, has doubled oil inflow from the well.

Gazprom Neft has undertaken a fracking operation unique to the industry at the Bazhenov Formation, setting records in terms of the number of stages, and the speed and volume of fluid injection into strata. Fluid was injected into the strata at a speed of 14 cubic metres per minute, involving total fluid injection of 2,000 cubic metres — a 3.5-fold and six-fold increase on industry averages, respectively, facilitating a 2.2-fold increase in inflows of Bazhenov oil.

The Bazhen Technology Centre is consistently improving fracking technologies, experimenting with fracking-fluid composition and volumes, injection speeds, and the number of fracking stages involved. New approaches to developing the Bazhenov Formation are being tested at the Palyanovsky test-site of the Krasnoleninskoye field in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.* Commercial inflows have been obtained at all wells. The outcomes of these activities are expected to lead to commercial technologies for developing the Bazhenov Formation by 2021: these are, in turn, expected to become profit-generating technologies by 2025.

Vadim Yakovlev First Deputy CEO, Gazprom Neft says:

«Developing non-traditional reserves is only possible using innovative technologies and equipment — the development of which is something Gazprom Neft is currently paying particular attention to. The successful tests undertaken at the Bazhenov Formation confirm the correctness of our predictions. The ultra-complex challenges involved in developing the Bazhenov Formation are stimulating the development of unique domestic technologies, as well as creating the opportunity to start developing a new kind of reserves, more generally».

Reference

* Twenty high-tech wells have been drilled at the Palyanovsky test-site at the Krasnoleninskoye field, and more than 250 high-volume and high-speed fracking operations undertaken. The Bazhen Technology Centre’s production programme envisages the construction of several dozen more wells, while fracking stages are expected to increase to up to 30, with the lengths of wells’ horizontal sections increasing from the current 1,200 metres to 1,500. Specialists continue to vary the composition and volumes of fracking fluids and proppant, while analysing the impact of experimental parameters on cumulative production.

The Bazhen Technology Centre — a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft — is operator on a national project, “Developing Domestic Technologies and High-technology Equipment to Develop Reserves at the Bazhenov Formation”. The project is directed at bringing together the resources of the scientific, industry and business communities, together with government, in developing profitable technologies for developing the non-traditional hydrocarbon reserves of the Bazhenov Formation. The Bazhenov Technology Centre’s production programme to develop non-traditional hydrocarbon reserves is being implemented in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.

The Bazhenov Formation comprises a group of oil-bearing rocks covering an area of approximately one million square kilometres in Western Siberia. The formation is shallow, and lies at a depth of two to three kilometres. Provisional forecasts indicate geological reserves at the Bazhenov Formation to be in the order of 18 to 60 billion tonnes. There are not, currently, any effective technologies for working with the Bazhenov formation.

Hydraulic fracking is one of the most effective means of increasing oil production at a field, and increasing oil recovery. It involves the high-pressure injection of a mixture of fluids and a special proppant agent (proppant) into oil-bearing strata, at depths of several kilometres.This operation creates cracks in the rock, allowing oil to flow into the well. The longer these fissures, the greater area of strata they cover, allowing more oil to be produced.

About Gazprom Neft

Gazprom Neft is a vertically integrated oil company, primarily involved in oil and gas exploration and production, refining, and the production and sale of oil products. The Gazprom Neft’s corporate structure comprises more than 70 production, refining and sales subsidiaries throughout Russia, the CIS, and abroad.
The company’s proved and probable reserves (SPE-PRMS) are estimated at 2.78 billion tonnes of oil equivalent (btoe), making Gazprom Neft one of the top-20 largest oil and gas companies in the world, and one of Russia’s top three largest companies in terms of production and refining volumes. Total production in 2017 reached 89.75 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe), with refining volumes of 40.1 million tonnes.
Gazprom Neft products are exported to more than 50 countries worldwide, and sold throughout the Russian Federation and abroad. The company’s filling station network totals more than 1,850 outlets throughout Russia, the CIS and Europe.