| Samotlor field | |
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| Country | Russia |
| Region | Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Tyumen Oblast |
| Location | Lake Samotlor, Nizhnevartovsk district, |
| Offshore/onshore | onshore |
| Coordinates | |
| Operator(s) | Samotlorneftegaz |
| Partners | TNK-BP |
| Field history | |
| Discovery | 1965 |
| Start of development | 1967 |
| Start of production | 1969 |
| Peak year | 1980 |
| Production | |
| Current production of oil | 750,000 barrels per day (~3.7×107 t/a) |
| Year of current production of oil | 2008 |
| Estimated oil in place | 4,000 million barrels (~5.5×108 t) |
| Producing formations | Cretaceous ages |
Samotlor Field is the largest oil field of Russia and the sixth largest in the world,[1] owned and operated by TNK-BP. The field is located at Lake Samotlor in Nizhnevartovsk district, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Tyumen Oblast. It covers 1,752 square kilometres (676 sq mi).[2]
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The field was discovered in 1965. Development started in 1967 and first oil was produced in 1969.[1][2] Discovery of this field had changed Nizhnevartovsk from a small nearby village into a busy oil city as Samotlor used to be the most important oil production base of the Soviet Union. Before forming TNK-BP, the field was developed by Samotlorneftgaz and TNK-Nizhnevartovsk.[3] After creation of TNK-BP, these companies became subsidiaries of TNK-BP.
Over the all development period a total of 2,086 well clusters (containing more than 17,000 wells) have been built and about 2.6 billion tons of oil has been produced.[1][2] The peak production occurred in 1980 when Samotlor produced 158.9 million tons of oil (7 million barrels per day (1.1×106 m3/d)).[2] The production has been in decline ever since, although according to TNK-BP the field production has stabilized over the past last years after.[1]
The in-place oil reserves of the Samotlor field were equal to 55 billion barrels (8.7×109 m3) and as of 2009 estimated at 1 billion barrels (160×106 m3). The proven reserves are approximately 44 billion barrels (7.0×109 m3).[4] The field is 80% depleted with water-cut exceeding 90%.[1]
At the end of 1990s, production rate dropped to 300,000 barrels per day (48,000 m3/d).[5] However, through an aggressive exploration program and application of cutting-edge technologies TNK-BP had raised production up to 750,000 barrels per day (119,000 m3/d).[1] Up to 2012, TNK-BP plans to invest US$1 billion per year for maintaining oil production in it at the level of 30 million tons per year.[4]