Rosneft and ExxonMobil to develop tight oil reserves in Western Siberia and establish Arctic Research and Design Center for offshore developments

15 June 2012

Russia’s Rosneft and ExxonMobil signed agreements jointly to develop tight oil reserves in Western Siberia and establish a joint Arctic Research Center for Offshore Developments.

The agreements, which support implementation of the companies’ August 2011 long-term strategic cooperation agreement (earlier post), were signed by Rosneft President Igor Sechin and Stephen M. Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, Rex W. Tillerson, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corporation, and other top managers of the companies were present at the signing ceremony.

Rosneft and ExxonMobil agreed to expand and expedite joint efforts to develop oil reserves in tight low-permeability formations in Western Siberia using advanced technologies that ExxonMobil has successfully employed in North America.

The agreement establishes a pilot program to determine the technical feasibility of developing the reserves and is an extension of a technical research program, which Rosneft and ExxonMobil signed in April 2012. (Earlier post.)

In the near future, Rosneft and ExxonMobil will approve a work program for selected Rosneft license blocks which will include geological studies and drilling of Bazhenov and Achimov reservoirs. Drilling is scheduled to begin in 2013.

ExxonMobil will finance the geological studies and exploratory drilling. Participating interests in a potential development phase will be 66.67% for Rosneft and 33.33% for ExxonMobil.

We are not only looking at new geographical regions of operation but are also studying the potential of difficult to produce reserves in traditional oil producing regions. In Western Siberia, an extremely promising area in this respect is the Yuganskneftegaz Region. Development of these reservoirs will require a combination of state-of-the-art technologies, expertise in developing tight reservoirs, and appropriate fiscal terms, which the government of Russia started preparing this year.

—Rosneft President Sechin

The other agreement signed will enable ExxonMobil to join the new Arctic Research Center, which will provide a full range of services to support all stages of oil and gas development on the Arctic shelf, including ice monitoring and management, design of ice resistant offshore vessels, structures and Arctic pipelines, logistics and safety.