RusEnergy

MOSCOW, March 25 (RIA Novosti) - In 2005, an increment in oil and gas condensate reserves will constitute some 330 million metric tons accounting for 70% of the volume written into Russia's energy strategy (455 million metric tons), said Sergei Fyodorov, director of the department of state policy and regulation in the sphere of mineral resource management of the ministry of natural resources, at a round-table on "State Regulation of Rational Mineral Resource Management" held Friday. In his words, the most serious problem today is "a fast shrinking of the mineral raw materials base because of poorly organized geological prospecting operations." He pointed out that oil and gas reserves in the Volga-Urals and Western-Siberian regions were running out faster than others. "The main problem negatively affecting the state of our mineral raw materials base today is the decreasing coefficient of oil extraction," Sergei Fyodorov said. Whereas at the end of the 1980s this indicator was 50%, "today is does not exceed 30% by expert estimates," he continued. In his opinion, in order to get the needed increment in oil and gas condensate reserves, it is necessary to increase spending on geological prospecting operations. The ministry of natural resources has drafted a program of long-term exploration and reproduction of the mineral raw materials base on the basis of a balance between consumption and reproduction of mineral resources. In Sergei Fyodorov's words, during the implementation of this program expenditure on geological prospecting operations should increase in proportion to the increase in the projected cost of an increment in reserves with regard to one ton of hydrocarbon fuel, i.e., 70 rubles in the 2005-2010 period, 92 rubles in the 2011-2015 period, and 118 rubles in the 2016-2020 period ($1 equals 27.70 rubles). In his words, the bulk of the funds will go to the regions of Western and Eastern Siberia till 2010. In the 2006-2010 period, over 101 billion rubles will be spent on geological prospecting operations in the West-Siberian oil and gas bearing province, and over 107 billion rubles - in the East-Siberian province. "It is obvious that we cannot do without the development of Russian shelf deposits in future," Sergei Fyodorov stressed. In his words, should the Russian energy strategy for the period up to the year 2020 be implemented, the expected oil production on Russian sea shelves will reach 30 million metric tons in 2010 and 95 million metric tons in 2020, and gas production - 90 billion cubic meters in 2010, and 320 billion cubic meters in 2020.