Russian Natural Resources Ministry proposes expanding list of HRR for technological testing grounds, compensating active companies for part of costs
MOSCOW. Dec 29 (Interfax) - The Natural Resources Ministry proposes expanding the list of hard-to-recover (HRR) reserves for technological testing grounds and strengthening support for these testing grounds, in particular by compensating active companies for part of the costs of such projects, Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov said in an interview with Interfax.
Responding to a question about what proposals the Natural Resources Ministry and the Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency (Rosnedra) are making to find points of convergence with the Finance Ministry regarding providing incentives and benefits for HRR, Kozlov said: "Technically, all definitions regarding HRR are known. The concept of hard-to-recover reserves and what exactly falls under it is enshrined in legislation. The list of HRR is fixed by a government decree. Stratigraphic characteristics of deposits are designated by an order of the Natural Resources Ministry. All documents have been coordinated with interested agencies, including the Finance Ministry."
The Finance Ministry has introduced benefits into the Tax Code for the majority of HRR categories, he said. In addition, categories of hydrocarbon raw material reserves are receiving targeted benefits for specific subsurface plots. There are already 18 technological testing grounds operating for the study of HRR, five licenses for which were granted in 2025. The goal of these testing grounds is to develop technologies for the study, exploration and extraction of HRR that will ensure the effective involvement of difficult reserves into development. This in turn will ensure additional tax revenues to the country's budget, he said.
"However, today the oil industry is shifting its focus to the development of HRR, which can also include highly depleted and high-water-cut fields. Their development at a late stage is accompanied by increased operational costs. And the question of measures to strengthen state support for enterprises operating such fields is being raised quite rightly," he said.
The topic of gas HRR stands as a separate issue, he said. Amid declining residual reserves of 'easy' Cenomanian gas in the Nadym-Pur-Taz region, it is necessary to involve the HRR of Achimov, Jurassic and sub-Cenomanian gas. For Western Siberia, the development of Paleozoic deposits is also important.
"The Natural Resources Ministry proposes expanding the list of HRR for technological testing grounds. And to strengthen their support, for example, by compensating part of the costs for a company if it promptly implements and scales technologies from such testing grounds. Of course, additional monitoring of project implementation at the testing grounds is needed here. It can be expected that companies will become more active in developing HRR technologies if there are preferential conditions," he said.
The ministry primarily expects applications from subsoil users in the Nadym-Pur-Taz region for licensing for Achimov gas, in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District for testing grounds for Achimov and Jurassic oil deposits, the well-known Bazhenov formation in the Tomsk region for testing grounds for Jurassic oil and Paleozoic gas, and in the Volga-Urals province for Domanik deposits.
"Currently, the leaders in licensing technology testing grounds are Gazprom Neft , Rosneft and Tatneft , as well as private subsoil users, such as Stavropolneftegaz and Tekhneftinvest. Overall, implementing projects to develop technologies for both exploration and extraction of HRR will help reduce the cost of extracting such reserves and ensure additional oil and gas production," he said.
