Reserves and Exploration
Resource Base
Gazprom Neft expands its strong resource base each year through intensifying geological exploration, efficiently developing f the Company’s fields, and acquiring new assets in Russia and abroad.
At the end of 2010, the total hydrocarbon reserves of Gazprom Neft group from the "proven" and "probable" categories under the PRMS (SPE) classification amounted to 1,765 million toe (13,052 million barrels of oil equivalent). The Company has proven hydrocarbon reserves for 19 years, with reserve replacement of 110% as of the end of 2010.
Licensing
At the end of 2010, Gazprom Neft and its subsidiaries held 63 subsoil licenses for areas located in 10 regions of the Russian Federation. Most of the licenses grant the Company the right to hydrocarbon exploration and production for a period of 20 to 50 years.
Outside the Russian Federation, the NIS subsidiary in Serbia has 65 resolutions (license analogue).
The Priobskoye field in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, with 465 mln bbl of oil in reserves under SPE classification, is one of Gazprom Neft's largest and most promising oil deposits. Its active development started in 2004, and in 2010 the field was already producing 31 percent of the Company’s own total output. The Priobskoye field is a key asset that is strategically important for the Company’s long-term production growth.
A group of fields in Omsk and Tomsk Regions is the second prospective centre of production. Over the next five years, the Krapivinskoye field in Omsk Region, as well as the Archinskoye, Shinginskoye, and Urmanskoye fields in Tomsk Region, are to become the leading producers here.
After the acquisition of STS-Service from the Swedish company Malka Oil in early 2010, a group of Luginets fields were added to Gazprom Neft's assets in the region. Most of these fields are at the initial stage and form a new production centre, providing annual growth in oil output.
The largest fields (in terms of hydrocarbon reserves) in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug are the Sugmutskoye, Sutorminskoye, Vyngapurovskoye, Sporyshevskoye and Muravlenskoye fields. In 2010 these fields produced 36.3 percent of the Company's own oil production. A number of new prospective fields are being prepared for production. The reserves of the Novoportovsk field, the largest of them, are assessed as 238 million tons of oil and 286 billion cubic metres of gas. In 2011, Gazprom Neft and TNK-BP closed a deal for the acquisition of Messoyakhneftegaz CJSC from Slavneft, which holds the licenses for the development of the Messoyakh oil and gas fields in the north of Yamal. At the peak of production, the field is expected to produce 20 million tons of oil and condensate and 10 billion cubic metres of gas per year.
Exploration
One of the Company’s strategic goals is to intensify and improve exploration efficiency in order to expand its resource base. In 2010, the volume of penetration in exploration drilling amounted to 63,720 metres, which is 168 percent of the 2009 penetration volume.
As at the year end, the exploration drilling success rate was 69 percent, with the efficiency of 385.3 tons of hydrocarbons per metre drilled and 167 roubles/toe.
Tests of 19 exploration and appraisal wells were completed in Gazprom Neft Group license areas, and 11 of the wells yielded commercial hydrocarbon flows.
Exploration drilling has resulted in the discovery of the Severo-Vakunaiskoye field and 17 new deposits at the Vyngayakhinskoye, Vyngapurovskoye, Ety-Purovskoye, Novogodnee and Tympuchikanskoye fields, with recoverable hydrocarbon reserves of 4,249 million toe under Ñ1 category.
