Petroneft (LON:PTR), the AIM listed oil and gas exploration and production company that owns and operates Licences 61 and 67 in the Tomsk Oblast region of the Russian Federation, has announced its largest single discovery to date with a new oil field at Sibkrayevskaya on Licence 61. The news drove up the value of shares in Petroneft by nearly 17 percent to 38p.

The company’s latest exploration well, Sibkrayevskaya No. 372, was spudded in early July in the north-east corner of Licence 61. Petroneft said the well had made a significant oil discovery in its main Upper Jurassic target and encountered approximately 12.6 metres of net oil pay in the J1 interval - exceeding pre-drill estimates. An open hole inflow test saw the well produce 170 barrels of oil per day, unstimulated. The discovery marks Petroneft’s sixth discovered oil field in Licence 61.

Sibkrayevskaya is understood to be a very large structure that will require additional seismic and well delineation. The 372 well was drilled in a flank position on the structure and current mapping shows an area of over 50 square kilometres up dip from the oil-down-to level defined in the well. Petroneft said that current indications were that the ultimate recoverable reserves in the field could be significantly larger than the 44 million barrel pre-drill target defined by consultants Ryder Scott for the prospect.

Separately, Petroneft said that development drilling at the Lineynoye oil field, also in licence 61, was continuing to push the field boundary significantly further north. Two further development wells have been drilled from Pad 2 at Lineynoye. Well 208 encountered 8.8 metres of net oil pay. Well 207, which was the northernmost well drilled to date encountered 17.8 metres of net oil pay. An additional well is now planned to be drilled 500 metres beyond the most northerly well to date.

Meanwhile, further exploration drilling is set to get under way on Licence 67, with the first well scheduled later this month. Mobilisation of the drilling rig to the Cheremshanskaya site has been completed and rig-up operations are underway. The well is targeting objectives at the Upper, Middle and Lower Jurassic horizons following up on previously drilled wells. It will take up to two months to complete drilling and testing.

Dennis Francis, the chief executive of Petroneft,…

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