In September 2020, Salym Petroleum Development drilled its 1,500th well since the Salym Group began exploring oilfields in 2003. The anniversary well is 2,493 meters deep and has an S-shaped profile. It was drilled in an area of the upper Salym field developed as part of the South Hub project. Sibirskaya Servisnaya Kompaniya (SSK), one of the drilling companies of the SPD group, carried out the drilling.

Although the wellbore does not set a depth record, it is the absolute record-breaker in terms of total drilling time, which was 4.34 days compared to the planned 5.82 days. Well logging took a record-breaking time of three hours and 45 minutes. After the final petrophysical assessment, the net oil pay zone is 18.4 meters. All work was completed earlier than expected without injury or incident. The successful performance has been supported by a high level of standardization of operations, orchestrated teamwork, and a security culture that has been established over the years through joint efforts.

SPD began drilling the first commercial well in the West Salym oilfield in 2004. Since then, the total length of the wells constructed during this period has exceeded 4.85 million meters.

“The 1,500th well is a remarkable milestone in the history of SPD for all employees and entrepreneurs of the company who are involved in the development of the Salym Group’s oilfields. This is the result of orchestrated teamwork, as well as consistent efforts to improve and to make safety a priority over 17 years. Since the beginning of the implementation of the Salym project, we have been working continuously to reduce the cost of building wells. As drilling routes and conditions become more and more complicated, we are accelerating the development rates for wells and continuously optimizing costs. Despite the constantly changing international economic conditions and the challenges of our time, the Salym Petroleum team is finding opportunities for further improvement, focusing on employee and environmental safety,” said Michael Collins, CEO of Salym Petroleum.