Gazprom Neft has announced the discovery of a large new oil field on Russia’s Yamal Peninsula, describing it as the biggest find in the region in 30 years. The field lies in the Arctic Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, as reported by RT, an area best known for vast natural gas reserves but also believed to hold significant oil potential. Exploration there is difficult because most of the peninsula sits on permafrost.
The discovery followed three years of geological work, including seismic surveys and modeling. An exploratory well drilled to 2.7 kilometers produced commercially viable flows of low-sulfur, low-viscosity oil, along with gas and condensate. The company estimates geological reserves at 55 million tons, placing it in Russia’s “large field” category (of 30 to 300 million tons).