"Russiabegan drilling
a well in its Bazhenov shale formation in Siberia this week, tapping in
to what may be the world’s largest single reserve of shale oil.
Moscow is coming to the shale game very late; because Russia is
already rich in conventional oil and gas, it’s felt little pressure to
invest in unconventional reserves. But as its hydrocarbon production
begins to stagnate, Moscow is realizing that shale energy might actually be worth looking in to. And no wonder: Russia has the world’slargest reserves of
shale oil, and ninth-largest reserves of shale gas. Earlier this week,
a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell and Gazprom Neft broke ground
on its first fracking well in the Bazhenov shale, just outside of
Salym. Bloomberg reports:
"The Bazhenov layer, which underlies Siberia’s existing oil fields, has attracted Shell and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) because
it’s similar to the Bakken shale in the U.S., where advances in
drilling technology started a production boom. Exxon will also start a
$300 million pilot project drilling in a different part of the Bazhenov
with OAO Rosneft (ROSN) this year."
If Russia is able to successfully plumb
its Siberian depths for shale oil and gas, it could leverage its energy
holdings towards its ambition of becoming a Great Power once again. But a
long list of hurdles needs to be cleared, and no one—not the UK, not Poland, not even China—has
been able to follow in America’s footsteps. Russia is just now drilling
its first exploratory well, so it’s still far too early to tell whether
or not it will fall to the same pitfalls, but it has a lot going for
it. Most importantly, it has the experience, service industry, and
infrastructure that comes with being one of the world’s major producers
of hydrocarbons." Russia fracking map from American Interest,via Instapundit ===================== 1/13/14, "Shell Venture Starts Fracking Giant Russian Shale Oil Formation," Bloomberg, Stephen Bierman
Moscow is coming to the shale game very late; because Russia is
already rich in conventional oil and gas, it’s felt little pressure to
invest in unconventional reserves. But as its hydrocarbon production
begins to stagnate, Moscow is realizing that shale energy might actually be worth looking in to. And no wonder: Russia has the world’s largest reserves of
shale oil, and ninth-largest reserves of shale gas. Earlier this week,
a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell and Gazprom Neft broke ground
on its first fracking well in the Bazhenov shale, just outside of
Salym. Bloomberg reports:
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