Orlen is drilling test wells
Drilling activity of the Orlen Upstream Company
Drilling activity of the Orlen Upstream company, belonging to PKN Orlen, has been quite modest so far. The company’s assets currently include two projects in Poland and one on the Latvian shelf. The company is cooperating with Kuwait Energy Company on the Baltic Sea. “At present, we are continuing analyses which are to make it possible to find a location for the first drilling well. We want to start drilling in 2011. The deposit may contain from several to even several hundred million barrels. Our oil fields have a good location – near Lithuania so if everything goes well we could supply oil to our refinery in Mažeikiai. We are also considering obtaining drilling permits on the Baltic Sea, other than Latvian ones,” says Wiesław Prugar, the president of Orlen Upstream. The question whether Orlen’s new assets will be invested also with Kuwaitis or with another partner is still open. The Group from Płock is also looking for a drilling success n Poland. It is searching oil together with Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo in the Sieraków deposit in the north-western part of the country (Orlen holds 49% of shares in the venture). “We estimate its oil content at 1.5-2 million tonnes. This year we will be drilling another test oil well. If the presence of oil is confirmed another well will be drilled at the turn of 2010 and 2011. We think that we could start drilling oil in 2017,” – thinks the president of Orlen Upstream. Orlen also has five oil search permits in the Lublin area where it is hoping to find not only oil but also natural gas. In the case of the latter we are considering future prospects – starting to drill shale gas. However, considering the fact that technologies allowing shale gas drilling are quite expensive, it would be necessary to cooperate with a partner and sharing the risk. Americans have the greatest experience in this area so it is most likely that it would be a company from the United States,” – emphasised the president of Orlen Upstream.
Puls Biznesu, page no.: 4, 2010-05-17, author: Paweł Janas