Saneg Reports Huge Increase in Yangi Karatepa Field oil Production

Sanoat Energetika Guruhi (Saneg), Uzbekistan’s largest private oil and refining company, has confirmed record production figures at its Yangi Karatepa oil field, and announced plans for further expansion.

Saneg reports that as of early December 2022 the Yangi Karatepe field in Kashkadarya, Uzbekistan, is now producing at least 88 tons of oil per day, which is 38 times higher than two years ago when it took responsibility for the management of the field.

At the time of the transfer of the Yangi Karatepe field from the state corporation Uzbekneftegaz to Saneg in December 2019, the existing field consisted of three oil wells and the average daily oil production did not exceed 2.3 tons per day.

The Yangi Karatepa field was discovered in 2003. Initial geological reserves were estimated at more than 9 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons. The field has a number of complications of which the main challenges are geological conditions with tectonic disturbances and low reservoir pressure which significantly complicates the process of hydrocarbon production.

Shortly after the handover of the field, Saneg began looking for ways to stimulate production and introduced more than 30 geological and technical measures including: fishing and emergency work, retesting of wells, carrying out repair and isolation work, and work to stimulate inflow. Based on the resulting knowledge the drilling of three new wells is now planned for 2023, one of which is at the final stage of drilling.

Commenting on the increased oil production, Tulkin Yusupov, Executive Director of Saneg’s  Production Division said:

“The Yangi Karatepe field is not new, but it has good potential. Based on the analysis of available geological and field data, in May 2022 we perforated at a depth of about 3,600 meters and received a free flow of oil with a flow rate of more than 100 tons per day. Our goal is to increase production rates to load the capacity of the Ferghana Oil Refinery, especially now, when the fuel situation is critical. Such results as at Yangi Karatepe bring us closer to achieving this goal. We will continue to apply modern methods of geophysical surveys, as well as advanced technologies for prospecting and recovering oil.”

Correspondingly, and as a direct result of the increased oil production, an additional 450 tons of gasoline is being produced every day at the Ferghana Oil Refinery that the field supplies.

From 14 December the refinery increased production of AI80 gasoline by more than 50 percent. From January to November of the current year the refinery produced an average of 800 tons daily, but that figure has now been increased to 1,250 tons daily.

Commenting on the increased refining production, Khabib Latipov, director of the enterprise, said:

“Today, all the resources of the enterprise are aimed at providing the population with affordable fuel, in particular, gasoline. The recent abolition of the excise tax has significantly affected the market, and demand has increased markedly. However, we changed the production program before that, back in November, adjusting the workload of the enterprise, and realizing the proximity of the autumn-winter maximum period. In addition, the plant has reached a new level of processes thanks to the use of modern technologies that determine the most efficient parameters of equipment operation when mixing raw materials. All finished gasoline is put up on the stock exchange to form a free market price.”

The growth in refining was made possible due to a targeted upgrade of the plant’s production capacities and investments attracted by the Saneg oil and gas company (which has owned FNPZ since June 2022). In total, Saneg intends to double the rate of processing of raw materials during the year, from 1 million tons to 2 million, having directed more than US$400 million to modernize the refinery.

In addition, the production of AI92 gasoline has also increased, with at least 500 tons being put up for auction every day.