Lukoil Hits Milestone at Caspian Offshore

Russian oil company Lukoil has exceeded 15 million metric tons of cumulative output from its Vladimir Filanovsky field in the Caspian Sea.

Moscow-headquartered multinational energy corporation said that full-scale commercial operation of the project started in the fall of 2016, i.e. eleven years after the field's discovery.  

The third-stage of infrastructure development is under way now. Lukoil has mounted the wellhead platform topside (mini-platform) on the bearing units in the Caspian Sea. The total weight of the structure exceeds 2.8 thousand metric tons.

A self-elevating floating drill rig will drill wells from the wellhead platform. The produced oil will go to the central processing platform of the first field-development stage through a subsea pipeline.

Filanovsky field's third development stage aims at bringing its western part into development and at maintaining production at the target level of six million metric tons. Oil production at the wellhead platform is to begin this year. The facility will be minimally manned and almost fully automated.

Vladimir Filanovsky field, the largest oil field in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea, had initial recoverable reserves of 129 million metric tons of oil and 30 billion cubic meters of gas.