RusEnergy

MOSCOW, March 17 (RIA Novosti) - Oil reserves in existing deposits will only last until 2015 in case reproduction of raw-material wealth ceases, Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said at a government session Thursday. He noted that the program for the reproduction of raw-material resources, being worked out by the ministry, will make it possible to achieve the 2003 oil production level in 2020. Trutnev said the development of the shelf deposits would also considerably raise the level of oil production. "It is necessary to intensify work in the shelf areas. This will provide 23 to 25 billion tons of fuel equivalent," Trutnev said. He is also in favor of more active prospecting activity and developing new deposits. The reproduction of the basis will call for about 2.5 trillion rubles in the next 10-15 years, Trutnev told Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. Trutnev believes that de-monopolization of the raw-material market in Russia would be made possible, not through redistribution, but through opening new deposits. "We have to create such a mechanism," he said. Trutnev said Russian investors have enough money to develop six strategic deposits in order to bar them for foreigners. Explaining why a decision has not been made on whether to allow non-residents to take part in auctions, Trutnev explained that this concerned the production of strategic raw materials that should not be exported as a non-processed type. "These raw materials should be used for the needs of the Russian Federation," he said. As an example, he spoke about the Udokan copper deposit in Southern Siberia that will be auctioned in 2005. Trutnev specified that in 2005 six auctions, out of 250, would be closed to foreigners, and in 2006 their number would be even smaller. He said there would be no auctions closed for foreigners in 2007-2008 because by that time no big prospected deposits will be left. Access to prospecting deposits remains open for non-residents, he added. "We do not propose cutting the number of foreign investors," Trutnev said. "We propose that foreign companies should be registered in the Russian Federation and function in accordance with its laws."