It lies about 260 kilometres (160 mi) from Astrakhan at a sea depth of 25 to 30 metres (82 to 98 ft).
[1] Lukoil started to drill the Khvalynskaya-1 exploratory well in July 1999 by using Astra semi-submersible jack-up rig.
[1][2] In October 2009, Kazakhstan invited Total and GDF Suez to join the project.
The field is expected to become operational in 2016 and to produce 9 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
The produced oil and gas will be transported to Russia through the Lukoil-operated Yuri Korchagin field.