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RBTH: Due
to the U.S.
sanctions, many American companies with advanced technologies were barred from
providing some services to Russian oil and gas companies. Notwithstanding this
fact, you’ve teamed up with U.S.-French service company Schlumberger to perform
the drilling at your Brazilian project in Solimoes. Does this mean that sanctions
are geographically limited to Russia?
Is this cooperation a sort of hidden technology transfer?
Chris
Einchcomb: Sanctions do not limit cooperation with service companies outside of
our Russian upstream operations. The Solimoes Project is a conventional,
onshore oil and gas exploration project and therefore, even in their broadest
form, is not subject to sanctions. It must be noted that Schlumberger’s parent
company was chosen on an open tender basis to provide Integrated Project
Management (IPM) services for our drilling in Solimoes, their bid was the most
economically attractive for the company. Both Rosneft and its contractor
regularly review services and contracts to ensure their compliance with
sanction restrictions before signature.
Of course,
by partnering with other companies – irrelevant of where their geographical
location – you will always raise your expertise and boost your capabilities,
and that refers to all the participants of the project. But we are not talking
about technology transfer – the technology we are implementing in Solimoes is
no different to the technology we utilize daily in our conventional Russian
onshore operations. Rosneft is a leader in the Russian oil-service market and
the company is a significant in-house operator of drilling and support services
and already possesses the technologies being implemented in Brazil.
Contracting Schlumberger, as already noted, is just about the economics of the
project.
RBTH: How
many wells are you planning to drill in 2017, and what are the timeframes of
the works?
C.E.: Along
with Schlumberger, Rosneft Brasil contracted Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás (QGOG)
for an onshore drilling rig and associated rig services, the digging of which
began in February. We hope to start a second well in 2017.
Rosneft
Brasil is planning to drill at least four wells within the upcoming drilling
campaign with the scope of obtaining valuable geological information and
confirming the exploration potential and hydrocarbon resources in the Solimoes Basin.
The high
cost compared to operations in Russia
is one of the reasons why RNB plans to drill multiple wells to optimize costs
on logistics and supply of drilling operations. The estimated time for drilling
is 60 days and an additional 23 days for testing and well evaluation, resulting
in a total of 83 days.
RBTH: Do you expect to find oil or gas?
C.E.:
Geological modelling studies conducted on the Solimoes Basin
pointed to a frontier area with the potential to find both oil and gas.
Whatever the output of the well, it´s results will have a major impact on the
technical understanding of the Basin and will guideline future exploratory work
in the area.
Although,
the challenges of development in Solimoes are not dissimilar to the challenges
of developing remote areas of Russia,
Rosneft has significant experience in developing onshore oil projects and this
can influence the design and nature of any future development in Brazil. We
envisage the use of extended reach drilling and horizontal wells to minimize
the surface footprint of any future development.
RBTH: How
are you planning to monetize gas from the Solimoes project? Is Rosneft studying
the use of gas tank barges (LNG barges) to bring the gas to market?
C.E.:
Rosneft has elaborated some scenarios for the monetization of gas from the
Solimoes project. We completed two years of joint co-operation with Petrobras,
which highlighted LNG and gas to power options for development. RNB is now
progressing with these ideas independently but openly discussing opportunities
with Petrobras and other third parties on upstream and downstream collaboration
to select the best option for monetization.
As for LNG
barges, it is only one of the options on the table, although today we are
leaning towards traditional gas to power options. Petrobras’ former experience
indicates that initial production export via river barges is feasible, as a
short-term solution for oil monetization, and for a long-term solution to
export oil and gas through multiphase pipelines from jungle to the market in Manaus.
RBTH: Do
you plan to integrate the development of the Solimoes project with your assets
in Venezuela?
C.E.: The
Solimoes Project is very much in the exploration stage whereas Venezuela is a
progressing project and involved in production. By its nature, the drilling
campaign is stand-alone and therefore there is limited opportunity to integrate
the two projects. Any success in Brazil will allow us to reanalyze
the development strategy of the project.
Of course,
we would like to increase our Latin America presence and the Venezuelan assets
and experience with those in Brazil
(and Cuba),
but there are different ideas on the table.
The most attractive option for future integration may be in the
provision of drilling and constructions services where the leverage of multiple
assets could lead to optimized costs and design.
RBTH: Given the slight rise in oil prices, some
companies are actively increasing the investment in expensive projects, such as
deep-water, offshore ones. Are you evaluating the possibility of exploring Brazil’s
offshore?
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