Russia: West Medvezhye

The West Medvezhye gas and gas condensate licence near Nadym in Western Siberia, Russia, lies in one of the most prolific gas producing regions in the world. In 2004 the Company acquired 74.8% interest in Russian company ZAO SeverGas-Invest (SGI), which holds the licence for the West Medvezhye field and in 2005 Victoria acquired the remaining 25.2% bringing its total shareholding to 100%.

Independent reserve auditors DeGolyer and MacNaughton have given best estimates for the total prospective recoverable resource volumes for the 1,224 square kilometre licence of 1.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent consisting of:

5.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas

247 million barrels of gas condensate

25 million barrels of oil

Well 103 was drilled to a total depth of around 3,900 metres intersecting two hydrocarbon-bearing intervals in the Jurassic (J2) and Bazhenov at depths of between 3,718 and 3,741 metres. Following extensive testing during 2007, a discovery was approved by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and C1 + C2 proven reserves of 14.4 Mmboe were calculated for the Well 103 location during 2008.

West Med lies near to the super-giant Medvezhye field and about 120km from Urengoy, the largest gas and gas condensate field in the world.
VIctoria has completed a passive seismic survey over an area surrounding discovery Well 103.
The results of the survey will be correlated to the existing subsurface interpretation to confirm the location of the next well to be drilled in 2010/11.

West Med Programme for 2009

During winter 2008/9, GeoDynamics (GDR) conducted a passive seismic survey focused on new target location. The results of which are presented in this report (1.7MB PDF).
Drilling of next exploration well, Well 105, expected in 2010 with a further two wells to be drilled by the end of 2012.