Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and OAO Gazprom Neft began a drilling campaign to assess the potential of Siberia’s Bazhenov formation, reckoned to be one of the world’s largest deposits of shale oil.
By Stephen Bierman Jan 13, 2014 10:56 AM GMT
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and OAO Gazprom Neft began a drilling campaign to assess the potential of Siberia’s Bazhenov formation, reckoned to be one of the world’s largest deposits of shale oil.
Salym Petroleum Development, the venture between Shell and Gazprom Neft, has started drilling the first of five horizontal wells over the next two years that will employ multi-fracturing technology, according to a statement today.
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.
“This is a big theme for Russia,” according to Ildar Davletshin, an oil and gas analyst at Renaissance Capital in Moscow. “Bazhenov holds as much resources as has been produced in Russia to date. The question is what portion of it can be recovered and at what cost.”
The first horizontal well follows three years of study on the prospect, which included three vertical wells, 3D seismic, coring and well logging in the Upper Salym area, according to the Salym statement.
“Bazhenov development is an important element of our growth strategy,” Oleg Karpushin, head of Salym Petroleum Development, said in the statement. “We hope that the pilot project will allow us and our shareholders to make a decision about moving to a large-scale development of the Bazhenov formation in the Salym fields.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Bierman in Moscow at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at [email protected]
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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