Russia Oil And Gas Profile
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Introduction
- Russia is the second-largest producer of dry natural gas and third-largest liquid fuels producer in the world.
- Russia was the third-largest producer of liquid fuels in 2012, following the United States and Saudi Arabia. During that year, liquid fuels production averaged 10.4 million bbl/d.
- According to the Oil and Gas Journal, Russia held the world's largest natural gas reserves, with 1,688 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), as of January 1, 2013. Russia's reserves account for about a quarter of the world's total proven reserves.
History
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Regulation
- Most of Russia's production remains dominated by domestic firms. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia initially privatized its oil industry, but Russia's oil and gas sector has reverted to state control over the past few years.
- The state-run Gazprom dominates Russia's upstream, producing about 74% of Russia's total natural gas output. Gazprom also controls most of Russia's gas reserves, with more than 65% of proven reserves being directly controlled by the company and additional reserves being controlled by Gazprom in joint ventures with other companies.
Upstream
- Most of Russia's oil production continues to originate in West Siberia, notably from the Priobskoye and Samotlor fields. The Sakhalin group of fields in the Far East only contributes about 3% of Russia's total production, although it has yet to fulfill the expectation that it would contribute significantly to Russia's total oil production. In the longer term, however, Sakhalin, along with the untapped oil reserves in Eastern Siberia and the Russian Arctic, may play a larger role. Several international oil companies are actively working in this area. The Russian sector of the Caspian Sea and the undeveloped areas of Timan-Pechora in northern Russia also may hold large hydrocarbon reserves.
- A number of new projects are in development, but these new projects may only offset declining output from aging fields and not result in significant output growth in the near term. The use of more advanced technologies and the application of improved recovery techniques are resulting in increased oil output from existing oil deposits. Fields in the Western Siberian Basin produce the majority of Russia's oil, with developments at Rosneft's Samotlor and Priobskoye fields extracting more than 1 million bbl/d combined. Production in the region is dominated by Russian firms, although foreign companies, notably Shell, have secured access to production in Western Siberia.
- The potential oil reserves of Eastern Siberia, the Russian Arctic, the northern Caspian Sea, and Sakhalin Island are attracting attention. A number of international oil companies have secured acreage and are investing heavily in exploration and development on hydrocarbon-rich Sakhalin Island, although the Russian government is pushing for a greater role for domestic companies in these projects. Gazprom acquired control of the Sakhalin-2 project from Shell, and it is seeking control of the marketing of gas supplies from the Sakhalin I project, led by Exxon Neftegas Limited, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil.
- Russian companies are also expanding into the Arctic and Eastern Siberian regions, spurred on by tax holidays and lower oil export tariffs. While several new fields have come on line since 2009, bringing additional fields into production will take time and may require a reformed oil tax regime from the government.
- For further information, see Exploration and Production in Russia
Active Companies
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Crude Oils
- Russia has six main oil grades, including Russia's main export grade, Urals blend. Urals blend accounts for more than 80% of Russia's exports and is a mixture of mostly Russian crude varieties.
- This blend includes a wide spectrum of qualities, but it also includes some Azerbaijani and Kazakh crudes. As a result of the differing components that make up the Urals blend, there is a significant variation in its properties at each export point.
- On average, Urals' gravity is 31.3°API and about 1.25% sulfur content, although gravity can vary between 31° and 33° API with sulfur content ranging between 0.8% and 1.8%.
- All Russian Crude Oils
Midstream
- Russia has an extensive domestic distribution and export pipeline network. Russia's pipeline network is nearly completely owned and run by the state-run Transneft, which transports about 88% of all crude oil and about 27% of oil products produced in Russia.
- In addition to dominating the upstream, Gazprom dominates Russia's natural gas pipeline system. There are currently 10 major pipelines in Russia, eight of which are export pipelines. The Yamal-Europe I, Northern Lights, Soyuz, Bratstvo, and Nord Stream pipelines all carry Russian gas to Eastern and Western European markets via Ukraine, Belarus, and across the Baltic Sea. These five pipelines have a combined capacity of nearly 6 Tcf per day. Three other pipelines â Blue Stream, North Caucasus, and Mozdok-Gazi-Magomed â connect Russia's production areas to consumers in Turkey and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) republics in the east.
- For further information, see Oil and Gas Pipelines in Russia
- There are at least 18 ports serving as export outlets for Russian oil to various markets, including Europe, the Americas, and Asia.
LNG
- The Sakhalin Energy's LNG plant has been operating since 2009, and it can export up to 788 MMcf of LNG per year on two trains.
- There are a number of proposals in various stages of planning and construction for new LNG terminals in Russia
- Yamal LNG Terminal Project
- Shtokman Lng Terminal
Downstream
- Russia has 40 oil refineries with a total crude oil distillation capacity of 5.5 million bbl/d, according to Oil and Gas Journal.
- Rosneft, the largest refinery operator, has a crude distillation capacity of 1.3 million bbl/d and operates Russia's largest refinery, the 385,176-bbl/d Angarsk facility. LUKoil is the second-largest operator of refineries in Russia with a crude distillation capacity of 1 million bbl/d.
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page revision: 6, last edited: 20 May 2014 08:05