Barents Sea Driller Seeks Partner

Russia's Gazprom Neft seeks foreign partner to exploit fossil fuel reserves in the Pechora Sea (southernmost part of the Barents Sea)

The Prirazlomnoye field will be the first offshore oil field in the Russian Arctic to start production. After numerous postponements, the field is now to start producing oil early 2013 reports the 'Barents Observer'.

Russia’s third biggest oil producer is negotiating with foreign companies over a possible partnership at the Dolginskoye field.

“We believe it will be right to include partners in order to share and reduce the technological risks,” company President Aleksandr Dyukov told journalists. He confirms that negotiations are being held with several companies, but does not want to name the candidates, Oilru.com reports.

Gazprom Neft, a subsidiary of Gazprom, in 2010 took over the licenses to the Dolginskoye field, as well as the Prirazlomnoye field, from its mother company. Gazprom had got the licenses to the fields, both of them located in the oil-rich Pechora Sea, in 2005.

According to the license agreement, which was renegotiated in 2011, the company will have to launch the field by year 2020. The field holds an estimated of 130-140 million tons of oil, and annual production is believed to be an annual seven million tons. The Dolginskoye is located close to the Prirazlomnoye field, north of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

Company representative Vladimir Vovk in 2011 described the field as “a 90 km long colon” and said that engineers still need to work on suitable solutions for platforms, wells and objects in the area.