Termokarstovoye, Epitomising the challenges of drilling

Interview 1 "That is the general cross-section of the Termokarstovoye field based on the exploration wells and the wells that have already been drilled there. You can see from that image that we have 5 stacked reservoirs. The red color is gas and the blue is water. Actually, those are places we are targeting. The main idea of developing the reservoir of Termokarstovoye field is to develop it with long horizontal wells, because the reservoir is quite thin and to avoid drilling the well close to the water. That is why you use horizontal wells, with a length up to 1,500 m of the horizontal drain. You can imagine that on a depth of 3,000 meters, staying within a 15 or 10 meters thin reservoir for 1.5 km, that is quite challenging. Drilling overall 22 horizontal wells on the Termokarstovoye field is to maximize our production. We have 5 reservoirs, stacked reservoirs, and they are not communicating to each other. That means you have to drill dedicated wells to each reservoir but, at the same time, you want to sweep all your gas from the reservoirs. Another very important thing here: it is not only a gas field. It is a gas and condensate field. And it is very important to acquire as much condensate as you can because it affects your economics. Horizontal drillings, very long, will give you the opportunity to acquire more condensates than with the conventional vertical drilling. For the geosteering of the well, we are using the modern techniques such as the LWD, Logging While Drilling, which gives you the opportunity to drill and monitor your well, your drilling process, in real time, in terms of geology, because you want to locate your well in the best reservoir you can."

Interview 2 "Novatek has the skills to drill horizontal wells. Since 2006-2007, we have been drilling wells with a horizontal completion. To drill a well without any difficulties, we are using all the new technologies that exist on a worldwide scale. For example, we make use of hydrocarbon-based drilling mud. Two drilling rigs are in place on the field. They will function from the start of the project to the finish. As you can see, they are excellent drilling rigs, manufactured by the German company Beta, with a load capacity of 340 ton. They have a superior transmission, a top-drive and a modern drilling mud desanding system. Drilling of the first well is already ongoing and we are now preparing to drill simultaneously with the second rig." 

Interview 3 "One of the challenging things for the drilling here is that we are staying in the permafrost zone, and the thickness of the permafrost here is about 400 to 500 meters. It is not really difficult to drill through this layer, but it is quite complicated from an HSE point of view because while drilling, you melt the permafrost. And it could affect your drilling rig, it could affect your casing. That is why you have to use the most appropriate technique and equipment to minimize your impact on the permafrost and make your drilling efficient."