RusEnergy

02-11-2009 - Upstream OnLine - Russian producer TNK-BP is set to bring the Uvat fields, in Wester Siberia, on stream next week, almost two months ahead of schedule. "We will be ramping up production gradually throughout this year and it will be somewhere in the region of 2 million tonnes (14.7 million barrels) per year by 2010," TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva told Reuters, adding that two Uvat fields will come on stream on 16 February. Uvat was originally scheduled to come on stream on 1 April. TNK-BP currently owns 15 licences in Uvat, she added. By 2010, TNK-BP will have spent $2.5 billion on the Uvat development. "(Uvat is) one of the major projects in its first stage that we are keeping intact in terms of progress, taking into account the several budget optimisations we are forced to make due to the worsening economic climate," Dracheva said.