Rosneft and partner Eni have spud the Maria-1 exploration well in the Zapadno-Chernomorskaya licence area in the Black Sea. The license is estimated to hold oil in place of over 570 million tons, Rosneft reported on 20 December.
To prepare for drilling, Rosneft acquired over 4000km of 2D seismic and more than 3000sq km of 3D seismic data and conducted integrated geotechnical surveys.
The license’s first well is being drilled by the Saipem-operated Scarabeo-9 semisubmersible to 6126m. Water depth at the site is over 2000m.
Rosneft holds 66.67% interest in the joint venture conducting the Zapadno-Chernomorskaya Area Project. Eni holds 33.33% interest. In May this year, the companies formalized previous agreements to conduct exploratory drilling through joint projects in the Black Sea and Barents Sea.
The forecasted oil in place of all the offshore Russia license areas the companies are jointly exploring exceed 2 billion tons of oil and 1.4 Tcm of gas.
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