On May 25, 2018, during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Rosneft and Bashneftegeofizika signed an agreement for working together in developing high-tech LWD (logging while drilling) equipment for horizontal well drilling, as well as equipment for pay zone well testing in the exploration drilling of oil and gas wells.

The volume and complexity of the construction of horizontal wells at Rosneft’s fields in recent years has been constantly increasing. The share of horizontal wells in the overall number of the wells drilled increased to 36 percent in 2017. The number of new horizontal wells with multistage hydraulic fracturing increased by 67 percent. For instance, in the first quarter of 2018, the number of new horizontal wells with multi-stage hydraulic fracturing that were put into operation increased by more than 65 percent compared to the first quarter of 2017.

The use of high-tech equipment in the construction of horizontal wells with long horizontal sections will yield an increase in hydrocarbon reserves and boost well productivity.

Rosneft’s joint development of technologies in partnership with Bashneftegeofizika will improve the production efficiency and reduce the Russian oil major’s dependence on imported technologies in the construction of wells.

Bashneftegeofizika is Russia’s largest oilfield service company with more than 85 years of history. It provides subsoil users with a full cycle of oil and gas services. The company develops and produces a wide range of logging equipment, tools, and special-purpose machinery.

The strategy Rosneft-2022 was approved by Rosneft’s board of directors with the goal of reaching a technological breakthrough in the production of liquid hydrocarbons. To this end, the company plans to increase the share of high-yield horizontal wells up to 40 percent by 2020, as well as to actively apply high-tech completion methods, including multi-stage hydraulic fracturing of both new and existing wells.