Transneft sees 550 mln tonnes of oil per year produced in Russia after 2012
MOSCOW. Dec 3 (Interfax) - Russian oil pipeline company Transneft expects to see oil companies in Russia extracting 550 million tonnes of oil per year after 2012.
"Firsthand information signed by company bosses says, yes, the forecast is 550 million tonnes a year after 2012," Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev said in an interview with the daily newspaper Kommersant.
"When it became clear that a real crisis was upon us, everyone started to play it safe - even oil companies - to cut back on drilling, geological prospecting, and other important and serious financial avenues. It seemed that we have caved on extraction, and we will fall even harder in three years. After all, if you do not open and prepare new deposits for extraction now, it will have an impact right through this period. However, oil prices have risen, and everyone is breathing easier and returning to their drilling and prospecting jobs," Tokarev said.