Crude oil production by LUKOIL Group in 2011 (including the share of
production by equity affiliates) was 90,917 million tonnes (1,840 million
barrels per day).
Lower oil output in 2011 reflects decline of production at fields
in Western Siberia, where the Company produces 54% of its crude oil. The decline
was due primarily to objective changes in the structure of recoverable reserves.
However, improvement to systems for maintaining strata pressure, use of the
latest enhanced recovery technologies and horizontal drilling enabled LUKOIL to
stabilize output levels in Western Siberia from the middle of the
year.
LUKOIL subsidiaries and equity affiliates produced hydrocarbons
at 358 fields in Russia and at 34 fields in 4 foreign countries during 2011.
Production of hydrocarbons was begun at three new fields in the Russian
Federation and at one field in Uzbekistan. Production levels at 18 Group fields
rose by more than 50,000 tonnes in comparison with 2010. The largest increases
(more than 200,000 tonnes) were achieved at 4 fields, which together gave
overall annual increment of oil output by 1 million tonnes. The Company had
30,840 oil production wells as of January 1, 2012, of which 26,970 were actually
in use, and the number of injection wells was 10,960, of which 8,750 were under
pressure.
The number of oil production wells was 1.6% higher in 2011 than
in 2010, and the number of injection wells increased by 6.0%, raising the
efficiency of production. The share of idle wells was almost unchanged from the
end of 2010 at 12.5% of the total number. Average daily oil output at wells in
projects with Group participation was 13.8 tonnes.
A program of industrial
testing enabled a technology breakthrough in 2011, which raises the forecast for
viable development of new reserves in 2012–2021 by 3.6 billion barrels of oil
thanks to increase of oil recovery rates at fields in Russia.
LUKOIL made particularly rapid advances during 2011 in drilling
of horizontal wells that uses multizonal hydrofracturing of strata. A total of
96 wells with multi-zonal hydrofracturing were brought into operation in 2011
and gave 637,000 tonnes of oil production. Average daily oil flow from
the wells was 56.3
tonnes.
Russia
Oil production by LUKOIL in Russia during 2011 was 84.966 million
tonnes, of which 84.609 million tonnes were produced by Group
subsidiaries.
Subsidiaries and equity affiliates of LUKOIL produced
hydrocarbons at 358 fields in Russia in 2011. Production drilling in Russia grew
by 9.1% to 2,493,000 m. The Group owned 28,930 production wells at the end of
2011, of which 25,240 were actually in use.
International Projects
LUKOIL’s share of production in international projects was 5.951
million tonnes in 2011, which is 4.4% less than in 2010. The decrease was mainly
due to the Kumkol and KarakudukMunai projects in Kazakhstan, South-West Gissar
in Uzbekistan, Meleiha in Egypt and Shakh-Deniz in
Azerbaijan.
Production drilling in the Company’s international projects
increased by 3.0% in 2011 compared with 2010 to 459,800 meters. The number of
oil production wells rose by 9.6% to 1,905, of which 1,728 were actually in use.
A total of 267 new production wells were commissioned as part of international
projects, in which the Company is a participant.