Business news

GOMEL, 26 October (BelTA) – The Belarusian oil company Belorusneft intends to extract about 3 million tonnes of oil in the country and abroad in 2016, BelTA learned from Andrei Kozyr, the company’s Deputy Director General for Geology. The executive took part in events held to highlight the fact that 130 million tonnes of oil has been extracted in Belarus so far.

Belorusneft intends to extract roughly 60% of the intended amount in Belarus. Domestic oil extraction averaged 1.645 million tonnes in the last three years. “We intend to get roughly the same amount next year. It is feasible because the oil deposits that have been explored so far contain nearly 50 million tonnes of recoverable oil,” noted Andrei Kozyr.

Belorusneft’s overseas operations will be focused on Russia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. In particular, since 2013 Belorusneft has been represented in Russia by its oil daughter enterprise Yangpur that operates four oil fields in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District. The Belarusian-Venezuelan oil extraction company Petrolera Bielovenezolana is busy operating seven oil deposits and six gas ones. Actual extraction has reached 6.5 million tonnes of oil and 4.2 billion m3 of natural gas since the agreement on cooperation was signed in 2006.

In March 2015 Belorusneft signed a contract to provide comprehensive specialized services to the Ecuadorian company Petroamazonas for the sake of optimizing the extraction and enhancing oil recovery in addition to providing geological prospecting services at the Armadillo oil field (block 55). Plans have been made to drill nine production wells, one injection well, and two prospecting wells over there in 2015-2016.

Oil extraction began in Belarus in August 1964, with the first commercial oil flow secured in October 1964. The first oil field was called Rechitskoye. By 2015 as many as 81 oil and gas condensate deposits had been discovered. Now Belorusneft extracts oil and gas at 61 fields. Nearly 1,000 wells are in use, including 801 production ones.

The Belarusian industrial group Belorusneft was founded in 1966. The company specializes in the surveying, prospecting and development of oil fields, well drilling, oil and associated petroleum gas extraction in Belarus and a number of other countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Ecuador.