OREANDA-NEWS. September 13, 2012. 150,000 tons of extra-viscous oil (EVO) have been produced at Ashalchinskoye field of TATNEFT since the beginning of the field development. The plans for 2012 envisage production in the amount of 65 thousand tons of oil, which is 57 percent higher than last year. The total production since the beginning of the field development will reach the level of 170 thousand tons of EVO, reported the press-centre of TATNEFT.

Commercial production of the extra-viscous oil at Ashalchi is performed by NGDU "Nurlatneft", which is a structural division of the Company. To date, professionals of the Oil and Gas Production Board have drilled 14 pairs of horizontal wells and one huff-and-puff well. Drilling of the fifteenth pair is proceeding to completion and construction of a producer well is in progress at present. Drilling of 30 more pairs of horizontal wells is envisaged for bringing into development of the entire Ashalchinskoye field.

The target formation of extra-viscous oil commercial development for the Company is Sheshminsky horizon of Ufa stratum of the Cheremshano-Bastrykskaya zone. The management of TATNEFT pursues an ambitious goal of early development of the EVO fields within the Cheremshano-Bastrykskayay zone. The scheduled activities provide for performance of exploration and study operations on estimating oil reserves and entering them to the state reserves.

Execution of the mentioned works is planned for implementation within a ten-year program of extra-viscous oil development being elaborated at TATNEFT, which will ensure significant increase in oil production. The program implementation will require fulfillment of a wide range of technical measures, including establishment of gas and heat supply facilities as well as establishment of viscous oil production, treatment and transportation facilities with allocation of significant resources, including financial ones, for this purpose.

Pursuing, inter alia, the goal of supporting EVO fields development projects the Government of the Russian Federation issued Order No. 700r and the envisaged in this document preferential export duty rate for extra- viscous oil with a viscosity value over 10,000 mPa*s at 10 percent of the full rate for oil over a 10 years period will allow for effective development of extra-viscous oil fields, which are one of the most promising sources of crude oil reserves growth against the background of depleting reserves of conventional easy-to-recover oil.