Russia Begins Large-scale Commercial Oil Production In Caspian Sea

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(RTTNews) - Russia's largest independent oil producer, LUKOIL, has begun commercial oil production in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the Yuri Korchagin oil platform on Wednesday to mark the beginning of the oil production, Russian media reported.

The Korchagin oil field, off the coast of south-western Russia, is being developed by LUKOIL-Nizhnevolzhskneft, a subsidiary of LUKOIL.

Drilling to yield a maximum annual output of 2.5 million tons (18 million barrels) of oil and 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas is being carried out from a stationary platform installed in September last year.

It has an estimated reserves of 28.8 million tons (211 million barrels) of oil and 63.3 billion cubic meter natural gas.

It is one of the six oil and gas deposits LUKOIL discovered in the northern part of the Caspian Sea before 2005, with total reserves of 4.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

There was a 1.5% increase in Russia's oil output in 2009, reaching 493 million tons.

Analysts estimate that Russia ousted Saudi Arabia as the world's top oil exporter due to output quota cuts by OPEC members and Russia starting operations in three new oil fields in Siberia.

Russia boosted its federal budget revenues from energy product exports to 1.8 trillion rubles ($60 billion) in 2009, 31% more than that of the previous year.

A major share of the revenues -- 1.1 trillion rubles ($36.7 billion) -- came from crude oil exports.

by RTT Staff Writer

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