Authorities, oil cos seeking new ways to support oil output in Russia, to finalize plan by mid-Feb - Kozak
SKOLKOVO. Dec 19 (Interfax) - Russian government agencies and oil companies plan to finalize a roadmap by mid-February 2019 for measures to support oil production in Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak told reporters.
An industry discussion was held at Moscow School of Management Skolkovo on Tuesday on priority areas of technological development in the oil sector for maintaining the volume of oil production in Russia. It was attended by Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin, Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov, Tatneft CEO Nail Maganov and experts.
Expert forecasts of a possible increase in oil production in Russia to 600 million tonnes per year by 2025 are unrealistic, Kozak said.
"Right now we're talking about maintaining the volumes that we have today, because, by all estimates, our production volume will decrease by half by 2035. Production is supposed to fall already starting in 2022, so we have to urgently take appropriate measures," Kozak said.
He recalled that the Energy Ministry has prepared a draft roadmap to stimulate production. It was decided after Tuesday's meeting to fill out this roadmap with issues of technological updates, training of personnel, digitization and the creation of testing grounds, he said.
"This will work only when taken together. Tax incentive measures alone are insufficient," Kozak said.
He said Tuesday's discussion was "very practical and important." It will result in the formation of a working group headed by Kozak that will also include representatives of the Natural Resources Ministry, Energy Ministry, Education and Science Ministry and Industry and Trade Ministry, as well as oil companies.
"Representatives of the oil industry, oil and gas engineering and science participated in this discussion. Every group that worked here has a very practical and important thought, which the Russian government has also heard. There is a whole range of disparate plans of action, at the Natural Resources Ministry, at the Education and Science Ministry, at the Industry and Trade Ministry and the Energy Ministry. It's important to combine all this, we agreed on this. I even agreed to head the corresponding working group in order to bring together, coordinate and control everything that was said here," Kozak said.
"We agreed to work out a detailed and coordinated roadmap soon already with the participants of the oil dialog and federal government agencies, both for the creation of testing grounds, and stimulating the development of new fields, stimulating production of difficult reserves and small fields through tax instruments," Kozak said.
He also said that the subsector of manufacturing oil and gas equipment that is not currently made in Russia will be singled out under the International Cooperation and Exports national project.
"We have decided to identify potential producers, enter into corresponding agreements with them for a long-term period, for six years, which should ensure the introduction of these technologies, and the organization of serial production of the corresponding equipment that does not exist in Russia today," Kozak said.
"Issues concerning the training of workers, they should also be reflected in the document, issues of digitization will also be worked out. I think that by spring we'll launch this multi-sector project, which should provide the necessary result in the next few years," Kozak said.