The TAAS-Yurakh Neftegazodobycha Company (TYNGD) have been ramping up the drilling activity in the Srednebotuobinskoye oil field in Eastern Siberia, beating new records and delivering audacious targets in multilateral well designs. Drilling activity has ramped-up from 2 to 10 drilling rigs since formation of the JV business in Early 2015. As development drilling has progressed, a number of existing and newly identified challenges have arisen. Development of the Srednebotuobinskoye oil field is from the Bt. formation which is a thin oil rim with a massive gas cap. As the horizontal permeability is more than 350 mD this leads to severe challenges in increasing the oil production while restricting the production of associated gas and in order to deal with these challenges, a multilateral project was established to apply the best that this technology can offer. The multilateral well concept was a key approach to successfully develop the field, based on the in-situ risks and required well economics. Many of these issues have been addressed, in a stepwise and logical fashion, and this paper describes how this has been achieved and the progress that has been made to date. Economic challenges required that the well construction process be improved in efficiency, increased the individual well productivity and enhanced economic delivery. In order to deliver these efficiencies, the TYNGD Team prioritised a number of initiatives, such as a reduction in the Non-Productive Time (NPT) that is associated with the drilling and well construction process. From vuggy-losses in the overburden, to managing increasing losses and differential sticking within the reservoir; a number of key challenges have been identified; many have been addressed, others are in action and a few remain opportunities. In order to manage limited resources as efficiently as possible, and while building a meaningful and sufficiently populated drilling wells database; a simplistic roadmap of the wellbore construction process was created from best practice. This approach allowed TYNGD to prioritize targeting of trials, pilots and techniques to those areas that were most impactful to the overall field development at this stage. Close integration between the drilling and sub-surface teams allowed such ranking/prioritisation to be highly effective. This began with ensuring that the cement integrity was being achieved through the gas-cap region, to ensure that productivity, in the open-hole was assured. Major losses in the overburden were also targeted and prioritised, and a range of options were developed and deployed in order to help minimise issues. In parallel with this, formation damage and well productivity behaviour was also addressed, which has led to the planning and implementation of a number of multilateral field trials. Development of the Srednebotuobinskoye oilfield is underway and in order to deliver the most efficient development, drilling optimisation and continuous improvement are the key themes. To date a number of initiatives have been identified and implemented that have improved overall performance and resulted in significant economic enhancement. This paper will summarise the approaches taken in developing the field and multilateral well design; the results of implementation to date, as well as identifying and outlining potential further opportunities that are either currently in execution, consideration or planning.

As the extensive Russian gas business matures from developing the high-permeability (Cenomanian) formations, into lower-permeability (Turonian) gas deposits, a number of economic challenges will need to be addressed in order to remain effective. The number of wells, pads and associated infra-structure and expenditure in a tight-gas environment will dramatically increase, challenging the economic outcome and environmental impact of using the established approaches. In order to achieve the maximum return, it is imperative that the established pad and well, construction and execution processes, are challenged, re-considered and subsequently optimised for the new reality. This paper will describe a worked example of such reconsideration for a potential tight-gas development in Western Siberia. Well pad construction for Oil and Gas developments in Western Siberia is well established, so very well practiced in fact that often little is changed between one development to the next, and the reservoir and well requirements are only considered through a regulatory lens. However, as the development economics become more challenging in the lower permeability environments, much more optimisation will be required in order to maximise the efficiency. The approach taken here is to start with consideration of the traditional pad design, as was implemented for three pads built during an earlier Turonian Appraisal phase; and then incrementally consider areas of optimisation until the most cost-effective and solely requisite pad design has been achieved. Instead of outsourcing pad design to a disconnected/remote third-party engineering service, hand-cuffed by decades old established practice, the approach taken was to internally create an integrated view on pad functionality, technical requirements and optionality for a successful development. The results of this approach speak for themselves, with areal percentage reductions readily achieving a level of 50%, with an obvious associated cost improvement. Additionally, the flexibility and optionality that can be built into incremental pad design/construction offer new insight into what can be achieved in these very challenging environments. As developments move into more challenging rock quality, the previous approach of delineating and carpet-bombing a field with wells and pads becomes less effective and highly impactful on the overall development economics. Almost all Global tight-rock developments are phased, in multiple stages, based on improving sub-surface, productivity and well-design knowledge incrementally. Additionally, the inherent ability, via this method, to minimise the environmental footprint cannot be overstated. Techniques that will be presented show how a holistic approach will result in the most effective use of limited resources and a reduction of the impact of the surface footprint. The novelty of this approach is that it challenges what has become, over decades, the rigid and inflexible approach for pad construction that is linked with a higher-permeability field development era. It offers a new and refreshing insight into what may be achieved when an integrated and internal approach is taken to such considerations, while remaining cost effective, fully compliant and flexible.