Why are they drilling a well in the Sennensky district and what are the geologists looking for?

Geologists from Belarus have begun drilling a deep parametric well 1,350 m deep near the Khodtsy settlement in the Senno district.
– On the territory of the Orsha Depression, not far from Senno, drilling of the first deep parametric well has begun, as a result of which information will be obtained on the mineral composition of the existing mineral reserves in this territory, – noted Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus Viktor Galanov.

Back in March of this year, the head of state, at a meeting on the state of the republic's mineral resource base, extraction and processing of mineral resources, noted the need to intensify work on finding new areas of hydrocarbon deposits. These works have already been carried out in the Brest, Grodno and Gomel regions. The Vitebsk region has not been subjected to such in-depth exploration, but at the same time, analyzing archival data and previously conducted studies, we can say that this territory of the Orsha Depression is promising in terms of mineral resources.

- This is more scientific work, which is carried out within the framework of the state program "Environmental Protection and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources", - added Viktor Galanov. - A parametric well will be drilled to a depth of 1350 m with the extraction of core material, and a number of geophysical tests of the well will be carried out. The laboratories will determine the chemical and geological composition of the core from the well. Then, based on specific data on the mineral composition, it will presumably be possible to express an opinion on the minerals present in the subsoil of this territory. There are prerequisites for the presence of oil here.

Also, according to the deputy minister, based on the information obtained from the drilling results, further geological exploration work in the adjacent territories will be planned in the future.

At present, 22 meters have been drilled. The Orshanskaya 101 well will be the first to penetrate the crystalline basement within the study area. Drilling is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Photo by Dmitry OSIPOV