Russia: Volga Flows at VM Well

Russian-focused Volga Gas has announced encouraging results on its well #30 on its Vostochny Makarovskoye (VM) field flowing at 5.7 million cubic feet (mmcf) per day.

The company says that following a number of production tests on the well, the well has exceeded expectations, flowing at 5.7mmcf, or 161,890 cubic metres, per day through a 10 mm choke. 

As such, the company says it expects to exceed initial estimates for the well, which put daily flow rate at 100,000 cubic metres a day and 20 cubic metres of condensate a day.

The well, which was re-completed by Volga following previous drilling by an earlier licensee, encountered gas at a total depth of 1,900 metres at two intervals in the Bobrikovskiy sandstone formation.

Chief Executive of Volga Gas, Mikhail Ivanov, said that the results will bolster production from the field.

 "We are pleased to have successfully tested our recently worked over well #30 which will provide additional gas production capacity at low cost," he said. "We look forward to bringing the VM field into full time production on completion of the ongoing upgrade to the gas plant (the Dobrinskoye gas processing plant) in Q3 2012."

Elsewhere, the company says that it has begun sidetrack drillng on the Dobrinskoye #22 production well followng a shutdown in July last year due to damage on the well.  

"By the end of 2012, we expect to have five active production wells on the VM and Dobrinskoye fields with total production capacity of up to 35 mmcf/d of gas plus associated condensate," Mr. Ivanov said.