The anniversary well is 2,493 meters deep and has an S-shaped profile; it was drilled at an area of the Upper Salym field developed within the South Hub project. Sibirskaya Servisnaya Kompaniya (SSK), one of SPD drilling contractors, did the drilling.
Even though this well does not set a depth record, it is the absolute record-breaker in terms of total drilling time, which was 4.34 days against the scheduled 5.82 days. Well logging took the record-breaking 3 hours 45 minutes. According to the final petrophysical finding, the net oil pay zone is 18.4 m. The whole work package was completed ahead of schedule, with zero injuries or incidents. This successful performance was assisted by high level of operations standardization, orchestrated teamwork and Safety Culture established over years of collective efforts.
SPD started drilling its first commercial well in 2004 in the West Salym oil field. Since then, the total length of wells built over this time has exceeded 4.85 million meters.
“The 1500th well is a remarkable milestone of SPD history for all Company employees and contractors that participate in developing the Salym group of oil fields. This is the result of orchestrated teamwork, consistent efforts in continuous improvements and driving safety as a priority over 17 years. Since the start of Salym project implementation we have been working constantly to reduce well construction costs; as drilling trajectories and conditions keep getting more complicated, we accelerate well infrastructure development rates, continuously optimize costs and continue improving. Despite the constantly changing international economic conditions and the challenges of our time, Salym Petroleum team is looking for and finding opportunities for further improvements, while staying focused on staff safety and environmental safety,” emphasized Michael Collins, Salym Petroleum CEO.