Given high extent of depletion of the production assets and maturing of the main oil fields in the Republic of Tatarstan, the Tatneft’s objective to sustain the current level of the annual production can be attained through increase of effectiveness of geologic exploration playing a significant role in reserves replacement. The paper presents an overview of geologic exploration works carried out on the territory of Tatneft PJSC operations in the Republic of Tatarstan in the period from 2016 to 2020. Geophysical survey has always been the main instrument in the geologists’ repertoire of tools applied at all stages of exploration. The authors analyze the effectiveness of the geophysical methods. To reduce risks and to optimize geological prospecting, the Company uses an integrated package of technologies. The higher the quality of geologic prospecting, the higher the chance of new discoveries, and the latter is the main criterion of the exploration success.
Maintaining of the existing oil production level in Tatarstan is not conceivable without reserves replacement. For the last five years, extension additions made 73% of total addition to reserves of the Tatneft. The Company’s priorities as regards reserves replacement are: search for new fields, as well as for poorly explored unconventional oil reserves (heavy oil, domanik sediments, carbonate fractured reservoirs, tight reservoirs, sediments in the crystalline basement, sediments of the Riphean-Vendian age); search for small-sized and low-amplitude accumulations, lithologically or stratigraphically screened accumulations; development of novel exploration technologies and improvement of the existing ones; providing a rather dense network of microseismic monitoring and continuous updating of databases, including revision of all acquired data, re-processing and re-interpretation of field data.
Notwithstanding high extent of depletion of the main productive assets (80%) and increase of the share of hard-to-recover reserves (over 87%), the effectiveness of geologic prospecting has increased from 83 to 86%. The Company continues to develop new technologies aimed at reserves’ addition from complex unconventional reservoirs, and to conclude new foreign contracts, which will add to economic growth of Tatarstan and Russia.
References
1. Khisamov R.S., Bazarevskaya V.G., Ziyatdinov A.G. et al., Evaluation of geological and economic efficiency of prospecting and exploratory drilling at license blocks of Tatneft PJSC (In Russ,), Neftyanoe khozyaystvo = Oil Industry, 2018, no. 7, pp. 6–7, DOI: 10.24887/0028-2448-2018-7-6-7.
2. Khisamov R.S., Bazarevskaya V.G., Bachkov A.P. et al., Confirmability of geophysical data by drilling and well production testing in the territory of Tatneft’s activities (In Russ,), Neftyanoe khozyaystvo = Oil Industry, 2018, no. 7, pp. 12–14, DOI: 10.24887/0028-2448-2018-7-12-14.
