U.K.-based Rusia player, Matra, has hired a rig to a drill a $4.5-million well into the Sokolovskaya prospect in Siberia, it was learned Thursday.

Matra business, Arkhangelovskoe, has hired local drill contractor Orenburg Drilling Co. and its “3D” rig for the late-July, 2007 gig, expected to plunge the drill bit 3,900 metres.

Despite the presence of promising oil zones higher up, drilling analysis and testing will take 120 days, while coring and logging might take longer on this, the first area well.

Orenburg, or OBK, operates 23 rigs, and has already served a number of foreign oil companies.