Opinions & Interviews

According to the minister, apart from addressing priority tasks on subsurface study and oil extraction, Belarusian geologists should pay attention to increasing the export of geological services. “We have agreements related to the activity of our specialists with the Russian Federation. Our practices are interesting for Sudan and Egypt, which I visited not long ago to discuss the search for hydrocarbons and other mineral resources,” he said.

Andrei Kovkhuto also told the media about the work of the Research and Development Center on Geology in the Eastern Dobrogoshchansky field. “Well No.1 has been established in the field to search for oil in inter-salt deposits, study the geological structure and assess the oil-bearing capacity of subsalt carbonate deposits. The well is 2,990 meters deep. Tests will show an inflow to forecast the field reserves. According to expert estimates, they make up some 350,000-800-000 tonnes. Of course, we hope for a bigger amount and are currently testing another field which may increase the figures we are talking about,” he said.

According to specialists, five oil exploration targets have been pinpointed following a comprehensive analysis of the drilling data, core material, drilling tests and the interpretation of the field geophysical survey. Three of them have already been tested. The first one provided an inflow of oil with deposit water, the second and third ones gave oil influxes.

Apart from the Eastern Dobrogoshchansky field, the minister visited one of the development wells of the Berezino deposit. The well is currently 1,930 meters deep, with its projected depth standing at 2,165 meters.

A meeting with representatives of the Mozyr State Professional Lyceum of Geology highlighted the training and retraining of specialists for geological exploration organizations.