Russian oil, gas cos not currently prepared to invest in offshore production, but doing seismics - Rosnedra

MOSCOW. June 18 (Interfax) - Russian oil and gas companies are not currently prepared to directly invest in hydrocarbon production on the country's continental shelf, but they remain active in seismic surveys, the head of the Federal Mineral Resources Agency (Rosnedra), Oleg Kazanov said in an interview with Interfax ahead of the 2025 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"There are huge reserves on the Russian shelf - 15 trillion cubic meters of gas (with current production of just 55 bcm per year) and almost 1.5 billion tonnes of oil (with production of 22 million tonnes). At this point there are two main production centers on the shelf, Prirazlomnoye in the Arctic and Sakhalin projects," he said.

"Compared to the shelf's huge potential, hydrocarbon production is minimal and there is almost no drilling. However, there are many seismic surveys underway, [which are] expensive and complex. This indicates that companies are not prepared to directly invest in production on the shelf right now, but they're working for future potential," Kazanov said.

He said shelf projects are competing for companies' attention with onshore projects. "Countries that do not have enough hydrocarbons onshore go offshore. Russia has sufficient reserves onshore, but it is also developing its offshore potential," Kazanov said.