‘About the fields, such as Romashkinskoye, we can only dream about’
The Tatarstan oil and gas chemical forum started its work on 7 September in Kazan. The participants of the forum found out why the tax manoeuvre for oilmen is comparable to the Hitler's Operation Barbarossa and what the aged stage of Russian oil field is. The opening of the 23th international specialized exhibition 'Oil, Gas. Petrochemistry' and of the international research and practice conference 'Innovation in exploration and development of oil and gas deposits' took place in framework of the forum. The correspondent of Realnoe Vremya became a witness of these events.
Second Baku
This year the oil forum is dedicated to the 100 th anniversary of Valentin Shashin – the former head of Tatneft and then the Minister of the oil industry in the USSR. The participants of the forum referred to him a lot. The participant list was very respectable: besides the Tatartsan President Rustam Minnikhanov there were the Ministry of Economy and Development of Turkmenistan Batyr Bazarov, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Bashkortostan Dmitry Sharonov, the president of the Union of oil and gas producers of Russia Gennady Shmal.
Rustam Minnikhanov, opening the event, noted that Tatarstan is an oil and petrochemical Republic and the issues discussed at Tatarstan oil and gas forum are important not only for Tatarstan but also for the whole country. He reminded that active introductions and innovations give the possibility to increase oil production in the condition of the late stage of development and an objective qualitative deterioration of structure of reserves. 'The oilmen of the Republic are aimed to develop the oil production. At the same time, the Republic is interested in the experience of Russian and foreign colleagues,' believes the head of the Republic.
Gennady Shmal (the photo on the poster) in his speech made a historical journey. He reminded that this year it is 150-year anniversary of the domestic oil industry and remembered about the role of Tatarstan oilmen in the Great Patriotic War when 'the oilmen of Azerbaijan and the oilmen of the second Baku, that has become tenfold more that Baku itself, provided the military hardware with gasoline and kerosene'.
Besides, the president of the Union of oil and gas producers emphasized that Tatarstan has been the leader in oil production volume in Russia for many years. It produces more than 103 billion tonnes a year. Today, despite all difficulties, the Republic produces quite much oil and does not reduce its volume. 'What is more, many new solutions, new equipment, new materials are appearing on Tatarstan land. On the example of Tatarstan we can make sure how purposefully the leadership of the Republic, oilmen are engaged in the introduction of new and advanced things,' praised Gennady Shmal.
216 enterprises of Tatarstan of Russia, Azerbaijan, Germany, China, Poland, and the representative office of 19 countries took part in the work of the oil and gas forum. The products exposition located in four venues of the Kazan Fair. The thematic sections of the exhibition 'Oil, Gas. Petrochemistry' include such areas as oil and gas, design and construction of objects for oil, petrochemical and gas industry, petrochemistry and oil refining, collection, transportation and storage of oil, oil products and gas, pipes and pipe fittings.
Zero of mazut
The President of the Republic began inspection of the exhibition accompanied by the Minister of Economy and Development of Turkmenistan Batyr Bazarov from the stand of Tatneft JSC. First Deputy Director General for production, the chief engineer of Tatneft JSC Nail Ibragimov said that the company is planning to increase oil production up to 30 million tonnes per year by 2020. In 2015, Tatneft produced 26.9 million tonnes. The strategic project of the company — the development of deposits of extra-viscous oil. Now the annual volume of extraction of this oil reaches 1 million tonnes. What is more, up to 95% of domestic equipment is used for the wells development. We have produced bitumen for more than 10 years and the experience gives us the possibility to offer these services to other regions,' said, the Deputy General of Tatneft, apparently, for the guests from neighbouring regions and former Soviet republics.
At the stand of TANECO, RT President was informed that the depth of oil processing of this company has reached 99%.
'Zero of mazut?' asked Rustam Minnikhanov. 'Yes, mazut is not produced.'
The launch of the second phase of the complex will allow TANECO to reach the level of refining at 14 million tonnes per year. 'It is a minimum program. We expect more,' assured Nail Ibragimov.
RITEK, which produces in Tatarstan about 1 million tonnes of oil, presented the methods of extraction of hard-to-recover oil using carbon dioxide. This technology is already used in Samara. Next in turn — Nurlat region. The representative of RITEK proudly announced that the company has received synthetic oil that does not contain sulpfur.
In the second pavilion, the President, accompanied by Director General of TAIF JSC Albert Shigaboutdinov, acquainted with the stands of the enterprises of the group of companies TAIF. A little presentation of Nizhnekamskneftekhim was conducted by the Director General Azat Bikmurzin. He said that the company produces seven kinds of rubbers and successfully cooperates with the largest foreign manufacturers of tyres. Now Nizhnekamskneftekhim is developing new types of rubber, which would be in demand on the market.
Director General of TAIF-NK Rushan Shamgunov reported that the company annually processes 7.3 million tonnes of oil and 1 million tonnes of gas condensate. TAIF-NK implements one of the largest in Tatarstan and the Russian Federation projects — the Heavy Residue Conversion Complex. The aim of the project is to abandon production of black oil products and to produce while oil products. Start-up and commissioning works have been started at the object.
Director General of Kazanorgsintez PJSC Farid Minigulov presented the company's products and reported that in the first half of the year, the company received the record-breaking revenue. Kazanorgsitez is planning the construction of new three-chamber pyrolysis furnace that can replace eight old furnaces. The launch of the furnace is scheduled in a year and a half.
Oil deposits are in aged stage
After inspecting the pavilions of the exhibition, the President of Tatarstan took part in the international scientific-practical conference 'Innovations in the exploration and development of oil and gas fields'.
In his greeting, Rustam Minnikhanov noted that since the first conference in 1993, the number and geography of participants has significantly increased. Over 600 delegates have registered to participate in this conference, they represent oil companies and the scientific community of Russia, the USA, Germany, Ukraine, India, Colombia. 'I am convinced, the achieved in our conference high level of confidence among geologists, oilmen, will contribute to the opening new opportunities for realization of joint business projects,' stated the President of Tatarstan.
126 reports were scheduled to be presented at the conference. The speech by Gennady Schmal was one of the most eloquent and attracting everyone's attention.
First, the President of Union of oil and gas producers stated that in Kazan at the conference usually takes place a sensible conversation about the ways of development of the oil industry. Then he spoke about the problems of the industry.
In his opinion, the policy of economic bloc of the Russian government to solve all financial and economic problems at the expense of the oil and gas sector — a road to nowhere. Then he explained why 'oil and gas are the foundation of our miserable budget. But as a result of negative trends and the disastrous state of mineral-resources base, in recent years there has been the decrease in proven oil reserves and the extremely low reproduction'. So oil and gas cannot be the driver of growth of the Russian economy today anymore.
Gennady Shmal gave a pretty bleak picture. Russian oil companies today are working in fields that have been in development for 30-70 years. But the average size of opened deposits is less than 1 million tonnes of oil. Then he remembered the largest Tatarstan oil field, and lamented that now 'about the fields, such as Romashkinskoye, we can only dream about. Most of our deposits are in the aged stage. They need extra care to maintain the capacity and to increase oil production,' summed up the oilman.
Then the President of the Union of oil and gas producers went on the tax issues. The prospect of oil production in Russia is associated with the development of hard-to-recover oil reserves. Today they account for 2/3 of all proven reserves. But the technology of extraction of such oil is very expensive. With the current state tax policy and legislation, the development of such 'difficult' oil is unprofitable, says Gennady Shmal. In his opinion, the only way to stimulate oil industry — tax benefits. The government and regulatory bodies of fuel and energy complex have done something to give the oil and gas industry to work more effectively. In particular, the producers are provided with benefits for mineral extraction tax, export duties, deposits with hard-to-recover reserves. But this is not enough. More effective mechanisms of tax system are needed.
'The tax maneuver of the Ministry of Finance has been perceived by the oilers as the Operation Barbarossa,' said Gennady Schmal. 'In its result, the tax burden on deposits of Western Siberia has grown even more. As a result, there is the reduction in volumes of development drilling. There was a time when more than 3 million meters of exploratory wells were drilled in Western Siberia in the year. However, in Russia even 1 million meters have not been drilled in recent years. If we won't drill, we will have reserves,' said the President of the Union of oil and gas producers.
'For more than two decades we are waiting for the adoption of the new law 'On subsoil', 'On stimulation of production on low-yielding deposits', 'On the development of the resource base of the country'. It is necessary to develop and implement a set of measures aimed at stimulating the exploration and involvement in the development of new deposits,' finished his speech Gennady Shmal.
