Major crude reserves discovered on Sakhalin shelf

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2....4075&PageNum=0

07.10.2005, 06.01

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, October 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Major crude oil reserves were discovered on the shelf of the Sakhalin Island.

Spokeswoman of Elvari Neftegaz Company Olga Bendyak told Tass on Friday wildcat drilling under the Sakhalin-5 project discovered oil in three horizons in the Sea of Okhotsk, 40 kilometers from the northeastern coast of Sakhalin.

The 2705-deep well on the Udachnaya structure is the second wildcat of the Sakhalin-5 project. The first one was drilled in 2004 to discover considerable oil and gas reserves in sand layers. The sea in the area is 100 meters deep.

The Sakhalin-5 project covers the whole Eastern-Shmidt bloc on the northeastern coast of Sakhalin. Reserves there are estimated at 600 million tons of oil and 600 billion cubic meters of gas. Participating in the project are Rosneft Oil Company (51 percent) and British Petroleum (49 percent).