Sanoat Energetika Guruhi (SEG), together with Kontiki-Exploration, discovered the largest extra-viscous oil and bitumen field in Uzbekistan, “Yangi O’zbekiston”, in Zarafshan valley. It will become one of the most high-tech in Central Asia.
The bitumen oil reserves of the “Yangi O’zbekiston” field are about 100 million tons. The maximum annual production level is projected at 1 million tons by 2025. To ensure the level of bituminous oil production, it is planned to drill 1,500 wells per year. Investments in the development of the field in the next 12 years are estimated at $2.5 billion.
The start of the project implementation dates back to May 15, 2021, when the drilling of the first exploration well was started. Drilling operations are carried out on the border of Samarkand and Navoi regions, the depth of appraisal and development wells is from 400 to 750 meters. In the course of drilling, layers of gravel and sandstones of the Albian, Cenomanian and Turonian ages were uncovered. All of them turned out to be saturated with oil, extra-viscous oil and bitumen.
Due to the high viscosity, the field will become one of the most high-tech not only in Uzbekistan, but throughout the Central Asian region. For the production of hydrocarbons by SEG, several international oilfield service companies have already been involved in the project, including McDaniel (Canada), BYIS Manufacturing (United States), O’Neill Industries (United States), GenOil (Canada), Energy and Engineering (Russia), Veraton I.T.C. (Russia), Kazan Federal University (Russia).
Currently, prospecting and exploration work is underway to determine productive thicknesses and delineate bitumen and oil deposits, as well as pilot work to determine the extraction method.
UzA
