OREANDA-NEWS. On 16 June 2008 was announced, that the State Committee for Mineral Resources approved a volume of the geological resources of the West-Ayansk field. According to the “Eastern oil pipeline” website crude from the sector opened in Irkutsk region is planned to be used for the Eastern Siberia – Pacific Ocean oil pipeline filling.

The West- Ayansk field is located in the territory of Kirensk and Ust-Kutsk districts of the Irkutsk region within the Ayansk subsoil block. Oil refinery No. 8 of the Eastern oil pipeline is located 100 km far from the oil and gas condensate field. The confirmed geological resources of the field amount to 24 million tons of oil and 29,9 cubic meters of gas. The “Irkutsk Oil Company” subsidiary “INK-Neftegasgeologiya” is the subsoil user of the sector.

INK owns today through its daughter companies and affiliates ten licenses for exploration and upstream of the hydrocarbon materials in the Irkutsk region. In June 2007 specifications for connection of the Danilovsk oil field to be tied-in the oil trunk pipeline in the region of the oil refinery No. 8 at the 869th ESPO’s kilometer have been presented to the company. By the moment the first ESPO phase is be put into operation the total volume of INK crude will amount to 1 million ton per year.

The Eastern Siberia have not seen new field since 1991. Last year has become a make-or-break one in region development aspect – several minor minerals have been discovered within the Talakan and Kovytkinsk oil fields and some sectors had fine flows. The results of 2007 show the obvious success in geologic exploration development and allow expecting a significant potential of the Eastern Siberia mineral resources. In scientists’ opinion the geological exploration has been activated owing to ESPO construction.