4. DEMONSTRATION TEST SITE - PRIOBSKOYE OIL FIELD 4.1. PRIOBSKOYE OIL FIELD - REASONS FOR SELECTION OF THIS REGION Western Siberia is Russia’s greatest oil production region, accounting for 60% of Russia’s oil. The Priobskoye deposit is one of the more recent finds (1985), which could be further commercialized in the near future. A proposed project plan is a phased oil field development that could recover 578 million tons of oil over 58 years. There are presently more than 500 wells on 26 pads. What is unique about the Priobskoye deposit is that a substantial part of it is located under the floodplain of the Ob River, east of Khanty Mansiysk and 100 km west of Neftyugansk. The Ob is the longest river in Russia (5300 km); it drains 2,600,000 square kilometers and it empties into the Arctic Ocean (see map in Figure 2). Priobskoye was chosen as the demonstration site for a combination of these factors: imminent licensing activity, floodplain ecological sensitivity, and potential arctic involvement in an oil spill situation.
