The Berejów-OU2K well in the Lublin Region is to become a location for the second hydraulic fracturing treatment this year, planned for the autumn by ORLEN Upstream. Presently, process water tanks are being constructed in the concession area and tender procedures are held to commission the relevant scope of services.
Hydraulic fracturing in Berejów will be executed at a depth of over 2.5 km under the ground surface, in a 1,000-metre-long horizontal section of the well. The treatment requires almost 19 thousand m3 of water and 160 tonnes of sand. The operations, taking place between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., will be performed in a manner least arduous to the surroundings. The treatment parameters are currently being specified by ORLEN Upstream experts, and in Berejów tanks are being constructed that will be filled later from the municipal water mains. The treatment has been planned for this autumn, once preparatory work was completed and the current tender procedures finalised.
- "Following to assumptions implied by our strategy, we plan drilling several tens of wells on our concessions until the year 2017. This process will be financed as part of the main pool of investments planned in the strategy and executed during subsequent operational phases on the basis of exploratory work results." − stated Wiesław Prugar, President of the Management Board of ORLEN Upstream.
The first hydraulic fracturing at a horizontal section in Syczyn was completed by PKN ORLEN in June 2013. It had been most probably the most complex and intensive treatment carried out on an unconventional gas reservoir in Europe. The production test lasted 4 weeks and the presence of gas was determined already during the first days after fracturing treatment. Ultimately, the production test did not prove the expected gas flow that would secure profitable exploitation. Data collected during the test are now being thoroughly analysed and interpreted. Analysis results will be used during subsequent exploratory works. Initial conclusions imply, however, that the currently available methods (the majority of which were adapted or modified from American solutions) are not entirely suited for the exploitation of Poland’s shale gas formations, which have different properties and react differently to identical methods.
According to the strategy assumed last year, PKN ORLEN plans to continue operations in its upstream segment, for which a main pool of PLN 2.4 billion was set aside. Furthermore, the Company is ready to make additional funds available (up to PLN 2.7 billion), that could be used for example for funding potential M&A projects.
To date, the Company has drilled seven wells for the exploration of shale gas: five vertical and two horizontal ones. The work is currently being finalised on yet another well, located between Dobryniów and Dobryniów Kolonia, where coring is being performed at a depth of 3,800 m. Rock samples will then be sent to an analytical laboratory. Through the ongoing exploratory work, PKN ORLEN continues the implementation of its strategic assumptions in the upstream segment.
Press Office