Itar-Tass reported that The Tomskneft Oil Company has put into operation the first oil well at the Nizhne-Pervomaiskoye oilfield at Kargasok District in Tomsk Region.

According to the report, the oil-well, 2,700 meters deep is an exploratory one. It makes it possible to estimate the oil and gas-bearing capacity of the Upper Jurassic complex of rocks at the oilfield.

Mr Alexander Fomin, Tomskneft chief geologist has said "The first oil-well has fully justified our expectations. An active development drilling at the oilfield is scheduled for 2010. It is planned to drill six oil-wells with an aggregate depth of 17,000 meters."

The expected volume of production at the new oilfield will be about 94,000 tonnes of oil a year.

(Sourced from Itar-Tass)