Russia’s proven oil reserves are only enough for 26 years of production. Total oil reserves in Russia are estimated at 31 billion tons, but only a third of them are profitable – 13 billion tons. Currently, oil companies annually pump out about 500 million tons of oil from the depths.

This was announced by the head of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Alexander Kozlov, The Moscow Times reports . 

According to Kozlov, in addition to explored reserves, there are 95 billion tons of “oil resources” on the territory of Russia.

“But the peculiarity is that a significant part of them are heavy,” he noted.

According to the Energy Strategy until 2050, which was approved by the Russian government in April, oil production in the Russian Federation may begin to decline rapidly in the coming years . In the inertial scenario, production will decrease from the current 530-540 million tons per year to 477 million tons by 2036, and to 287 million tons by 2050.

Oil exports will have to be reduced threefold – from 234 million to 79 million tons per year .

In a “stress scenario,” which includes tightening Western sanctions and the world’s accelerated phasing out of hydrocarbons, Russia will produce only 171 million tons of oil each year by 2050 – three times less than now.

At the same time, there will be no barrels left for export: its volume will drop to zero.

To at least maintain the current level of oil production (“target scenario”), Russia needs significant investments, as well as achieving “technological sovereignty,” the strategy states.

In total, according to the document, more than 1,500 items of critically needed equipment need to be replaced.

Currently, according to estimates by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the share of imported drilling equipment, as well as analytical software for mineral extraction in the country, exceeds 90%.

In addition, 50% of mining machinery used by mining companies and 30% of surface geophysical equipment remain imported. There is a slightly lower dependence on imports of equipment for technological research of ores (20%) and geophysical equipment for well exploration (10%).

It was previously reported that Russia is considering the possibility of forced reductions in federal budget expenditures due to falling oil and gas revenues.

It was previously reported that the price of Russian oil in rubles fell below 4,000 rubles per barrel for the first time in two years . This is approximately 40% less than was planned in the Russian federal budget.

Author:  Halyna Yalivets Джерело: https://censor.net/n3553618

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