In the current situation on international markets, the oil and gas industry of Russia is the driving locomotive of the entire economy and at the same time demonstrates the most stable growth rates of all sectors of the national economy. It is thanks to the proceeds from the oil and gas trade that a consecutive year a positive foreign trade balance has been formed, and hydrocarbon production and transportation companies are in the TOP of the largest taxpayers of the Russian Federation. But, according to many experts, the potential of the industry is not fully disclosed, and its functioning can and must be brought to a fundamentally new level.
General Provisions
According to geologists, approximately 13% of the world's oil reserves are in the Russian Federation. Therefore, the Russian oil industry has a great influence on the global market, and forms the prices for hydrocarbons.
In Russia, 240 entities operating in the field of oil production are registered. However, only eleven of them produce more than 90% of the total volume of “black gold”. The lack of competition in the domestic market raises a number of problems.
Geography of oil fields in Russia
The main oil-bearing regions of the country were explored in the distant 60s. The main facilities of this industry are located in western Siberia. They account for about 70% of total production and are the backbone, the foundation of the Russian oil industry. A significant contribution to oil production is made by deposits in the Volga-Ural region. But this basin has already exhausted its capabilities and in the near future, geologists predict a significant reduction in production volumes.
The promising oil-bearing regions are the vast plains in the northern part of the country, certain territories in the Far East, and also offshore coastal zones. The development of these fields is not actively carried out due to the difficulties in the delivery of heavy equipment and its location. Russia's oil industry is in great need of increasing oil production. For this, it is necessary to explore and actively develop new deposits.
Mission and strategic goals of the Russian oil industry
To ensure economic stability and high growth rates of well-being of the population of Russia, the industry should:
- satisfy the demand in the foreign and domestic market;
- continue to be a source of significant and stable budget revenues in the form of taxes and revenues of state enterprises;
- to be a weighty argument in solving important geopolitical issues in the interests of the state in the international arena;
- stimulate the development of other sectors of the economy, for example, engineering, transport, high technology, services, etc.
Assessment of undiscovered oil fields
The cost of producing one barrel of oil in Asia is very low. The largest and richest deposits are concentrated in Saudi Arabia (about a quarter of the world's reserves).
If we are talking about already known and used fields, then they should satisfy the demand for oil for at least 60-70 years. But the potential of Russia is incredibly large.
According to experts, enormous oil reserves, which are still not explored, have been mothballed in the bowels of Russia. These reserves exceed almost all known deposits in the country by several times.
Promising oil-bearing places are the territories of Eastern and Western Siberia, underwater shelves of the seas and oceans. In recent years, offshore deposits are being developed at an accelerated pace. And if initially equipment and vessels were purchased at a very high price from foreign manufacturers, today domestic shipyards have begun to build modern platforms for drilling rigs. This marked the revival of shipbuilding and brought it to a new technological level.
The main tasks for the near future
To achieve strategic goals, you must:
- carefully and rationally use stocks of raw materials;
- increase efficiency at all stages of the oil production and transportation process;
- increase the depth of processing;
- actively develop new deposits, primarily offshore, as the most promising;
- diversify supplies and increase presence in new markets for oil products;
- development of transport oil pipeline infrastructure in Russia and abroad;
- building new pipelines and avoiding dependence on the political leadership of unfriendly countries.
Construction of new processing plants
For all the time of the existence of Russia since the collapse of the USSR, not a single new oil refinery was built. At the same time, old enterprises become obsolete morally and physically; they are not able to process oil at the level of world standards. Therefore, Russia, instead of selling abroad a product with high added value, is forced to sell its property for a penny. Point modernization of the refinery does not give a tangible effect. This is perhaps one of the main problems of the Russian oil industry.
The situation can be fundamentally changed by the program for the re-equipment and construction of new plants. Moreover, it is necessary to build not only giants, but also small high-tech enterprises in remote and inaccessible areas of the country.
Where to build new plants
Refineries should be located close to the places of extraction of raw materials, which will save significant amounts of money on transporting crude oil to the place of its refining, increase the income of interested companies, and reduce the price of oil products for the end customer.
But such a rule does not apply. And there are objective reasons for that. So, let's say, in regions in the north of the country, where harsh winters reign almost all year round and lack transport infrastructure, the construction of the plant will not be justified, because it will be very problematic to deliver processed products to consumers.
And another argument against the construction of large factories in the immediate vicinity of the field: sooner or later, the oil reserves in the field will be depleted, and people will leave the city, there will only be a ghost factory in which huge financial investments are buried.
Quality issue
Annually, the demand of petrochemical and chemical industry enterprises for high-quality raw materials is growing rapidly. And, despite the active introduction of energy-efficient and resource-saving technologies into the technological process, the consumption of raw materials will constantly grow. At the same time, the requirements for the quality of raw materials are being tightened.
It is necessary to legislate requirements for the chemical composition of fuel and semi-finished products. So, for example, it is necessary to ensure that the permissible sulfur content is 0.2% by weight. A similar norm is valid in many countries. This will significantly reduce harmful emissions and improve the environmental situation.
Optimistic forecasts for the future
Most analysts agree that the total production will not fall. However, due to some systemic problems in the oil industry of Russia, and indeed the world as a whole, an abnormal growth in oil production will not occur. Thus, in the near future, demand for energy resources will continue, which will ensure the harmonious development of other industries of the Russian Federation and an increase in the standard of living of citizens.
The decline in oil production in the main oil-bearing regions of the country is more than compensated by the exploration and development of new fields on the ocean shelf, on Sakhalin and in the Far Eastern territories of the country. Preliminary expert assessment of reserves gives every reason to believe that new fields will be able to meet the needs of the domestic market and export hydrocarbons to other countries for more than a dozen years.
Measures to improve the efficiency of oil production
The Russian oil industry lags behind other countries in terms of its performance and technological equipment. Scientists have proposed a number of measures, the implementation of which will bring the industry to a new level and will significantly increase its competitiveness and investment attractiveness. Here are just the main ones:
- the introduction of scientifically based methods for drilling wells developed at specialized research institutes;
- the use of more modern equipment and technologies, which will allow us to carry out development to a greater depth and increase the efficiency of oil production;
- actively attracting foreign investment and technology to the Russian oil industry by creating favorable conditions for doing business;
The international cooperation
China is one of the leaders in the processing of crude oil. And yet, the championship has been held for decades for the United States (in processing, not in mining). The oil industry of Russia has a much more modest scale, but still takes a prominent place and plays an important role in the global oil market. For a long period, while the USSR existed, the domestic oil industry was in a kind of isolation and developed independently. With the opening of borders, cooperation in this area with other countries began to actively develop.
The role of exchanging experience and attracting foreign specialists to the oil and gas industry is constantly increasing. This allows you to effectively invest in existing scientific developments, and not spend a lot of time and money on research that has already been carried out in other countries and has concrete results.
Attracting and cooperating with foreign companies not only opens up access to the achievements of modern science and technology, but also makes it possible to speed up the implementation of developments in production at times.