OREANDA-NEWS. December 3, 2008. The Murmansk-based oil company Arktikshelfneftegaz considers to speed up the development of the Madynsko-Varandeyskoe oil field in the Pechora Sea.

The company confirms that one of the possible development models for the field is socalled horizontal drilling from land-based facilities, B-port.com reports. The Medynsko-Varandeyskoe block is located on shallow water (10-22 meters depths) about 1000 km east from Murmansk and 410 km from Naryan-Mar.

Company leader Boris Kutychkin recently conducted a helicopter flight along the Pechora coast in order to locate sites suited for drilling rigs.

The Arktikshelfneftegaz (ASNG) also consider to use the Kolskaya drilling rig in the project.

ASNG was founded in January, 2002 by "Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka" (AMNGR) – a 100 percent Russian state owned company and by the joint stock company Promyshlennye Investitsyi (“Industrial Investments”). It is today part of the Sintez Group.The main mission of the company is the production of oil from offshore fields in the Barents and Pechora Seas, the company website informs.

The company is exploring three licence blocks (the Medynsko-Varandeyskoe, the Pomorskoe and the Kolokolmorskoe) on the shelf of the Pechora Sea. The development of all the projects have undergone several postponements over the last years.