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Samotlor field

Its the biggest oil field ever found on the territory of the former USSR and modern Russian Federation.

Samotlor field

Samotlor is the biggest oil field ever found on the territory of the former USSR and modern Russian Federation.
It was discovered in 1960s and played the tremendous role in the economy and history of the region and the whole state.
  • 1964 - the field was discovered
  • 1969 - production began
  • operator: Samotlorneftegaz
  • partner: Rosneft
  • location: Lake Samotlor in Nizhnevartovsk district, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, in the Tyumen region, Russia.
  • proven reserves: approximately 44 billion barrels (7.0×109 m3)
  • its the 6th largest oil field in the world, the field is 80% depleted
  • new technologies (horizontal drilling, sidetracking, extended reach drilling, hydraulic fracturing) have been applied to boost the active well stock almost to 8 000
Never before Soviet oil producers dealt with drilling wells in the region of endless swamps, aside from civilization or any roads and settlements.
Extremely low temperatures kept half a year and desperate need for new revolutionary technologies did made Samotlor special oil field.

This field is typical of many of the giant fields of the world with respect to reservoir rock (sandstone), trap type (anticlinal), age of reservoir rock (Cretaceous), average depth of pay 1700-2400 m), deepest pay (2400 m), and depositional environment (shallow-water marine).

Production peaked in 1980 at nearly 3.2 million b/d.
The Soviet Union tried to keep up output and injected water to improve recovery, which led to cracks in the rock.
As a result, Samotlor started producing water in circles.
In 1996, the oilfield produced only 300,000 bpd.
Production rose as high as 600,000 bpd in 2009.

As for 2017, total oil output at Samotlor exceeds 2.7 btoe.
Over 19,000 wells were drilled at the field.

During 2016-2017 Rosneft and the Russian government have been elaborating in details additional options for the development of unique Samotlor field.
As a result a joint decision was made for an investment incentive in the form of an annual mineral extraction tax reduction of RUB 35 billion during 10 years.

By the end of 2017 the Board of Directors of Rosneft decided to drill up to 2,400 wells from 2018 to 2027, that would provide additional output in the amount of more than 50 mtoe.