Rosneft has started drilling a well on the Khatangsky block in the Laptev Sea. The drilling was initiated by the Russian President during a video conference with Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Rosneft Igor Sechin, who was on the shore near the drilling rig. The transcript of the launch is available on www.kremlin.ru.

According to Mr Sechin, the drilling at the Tsentralno-Olginskaya-1 well is the first in the eastern Arctic. It will be drilled from the Hara-Tumus Peninsula under the Laptev Sea.

"We carried out 21,000 running kilometers of seismic surveys, which revealed about 114 promising underground oil and gas traps. The estimated reserves in the Laptev Sea add up to about 9.5 billion tons of oil equivalent, according to preliminary estimates," the Rosneft CEO said.  

The well can be drilled as deep as 5,000 meters, with a side horizontal tap. "Our technology allows for deviating from vertical to 15,000 meters," Mr Sechin said. The company will confirm a number of geological parameters to make a final decision on exploration depth. This will continue until August 2017.

According to RIA Novosti, the Khatangsky block is located in Khatanga Bay in the Laptev Sea in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Sea. Rosneft owns 28 blocks on the Arctic shelf with total estimated reserves of 34 billion tons of oil equivalent. The company's share exceeds 78 percent of this entire area. According to analysts, the Arctic shelf will provide 20 to 30 percent of all Russian oil production by 2050.