Announcing its first-half results, JKX said the field would be commissioned and tested in the fourth quarter of this year, "with gas sales commencing in the first quarter 2011."
JKX acquired Koshekhablskoye in 2007 with the $50 million purchase of Russian company Yuzhgazenergie.
It had originally hoped to start gas output in 2008, though it later said it was aiming for first gas in the first half of 2009 before pushing it back again to the fourth quarter of this year.
JKX CEO Paul Davies told Platts there was still a "slight question mark" over the exact timeframe for first commercial gas from the field.
"There are a few 'Russian' things, like customs, that are out of our control, so we can't be more specific," he said.
Commercial negotiations for the transport and sale of future gas production are already under way, though, and JKX also hopes it will be able to win a license extension for Koshekhablskoye once commercial production begins.
"As soon as we start commercial production we can apply for the license extension," Davies said.
In the first half, JKX, whose current production comes almost entirely from fields in Ukraine, posted net profit of $35.1 million, up slightly on the $31.8 million it made in the same period last year.
Production was 11,689 b/d of oil equivalent, up 15% on the first half of 2009, but lower than the 13,000 boe/d in the second half of last year.
PRODUCTION DELAYS
Output is expected to remain low in the current quarter. "Production performance in the third quarter is lower than anticipated," JKX chairman Lord Fraser of Carmyllie said in a statement.
"This is due, firstly, to a delay in the mobilization of the second drilling rig to our Poltava licenses [in Ukraine] and, secondly, to the slow startup of some wells following the annual field maintenance shutdown," he said.
However, the company is optimistic that the company's overall performance for the year will be in excess of 10,500 boe/d.
Davies added that the company still hopes to achieve output of 20,000 boe/d at some point in 2011 once production comes on stream at its new Rudenkovskoye tight gas field in Ukraine and at Koshekhablskoye.
As a result of the delays, JKX CFO Bruce Burrows told Platts capital expenditure for 2010 is expected to come in around $200 million, down from an expected $230 million.
"The delays unquestionably push costs from this year into next," Burrows said.
In addition, at Koshekhablskoye the company has reduced the number of wells it needs to work over from nine to five, meaning a fall in expenditure.
The results from the workovers have been "exceptional," Davies said, meaning it can achieve commercial production rates from fewer wells than had been expected.
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/en/detail-1403616.html
