OREANDA-NEWS. February 21, 2012. Grigory Vygon, Director of the SKOLKOVO Energy Centre delivered his speech at the LUKOIL’s Day of Science, where he expressed his concern on the global and domestic experience regarding the usage of unconventional hydrocarbon resources (i. e. shale gas, bituminous sands) and the employment of advanced oil recovery techniques. The event was attended by the LUKOIL’S Vice-Presidents, its Department Heads, the company representatives of the LUKOIL Group and Russian oil and gas Universities.

In his speech, Grigory Vygon analysed the impact of the US shale revolution and the development of natural bitumen production in Canada on the world and Russian energy sectors. The expert explained that due to a sharp increase in shale gas production (which increased 17 times since the year 2000), the United States had not become immune from gas imports, but they were also ready to start exporting LNG to Europe within the next 10-20 years. This, in his opinion, would mean that Russia, in the long-term outlook, would have to deal with the appearance of the new rival at the European gas market.

He informed that the use of the new technologies for producing oil from Canadian tar sands had led to a significant increase in the reserves and production levels in this country and that this trend would continue in the future. In Russia, he said, the priority was still given to the intensification of production utilizing the traditional technologies (i.e. hydraulic fracturing, horizontal drilling, sidetracking), while the innovative methods of enhanced oil recovery were hardly used.

In the expert’s opinion, the success of the new technologies in the U.S. and Canada was largely achieved owing to the governmental support. And as far as the conditions existing in Russia were concerned, that would mean that the State could and should co-finance pilot projects aimed at the development of new oil recovery methods and provide tax relief to subsoil users during their implementation at the stage of commercial development of fields.

“And in doing so, the priority should be given to the financing of the innovative technologies, which would provide the maximum increase in the reserves and which could be applied at the largest possible number of the fields. Without the State’s support, breakthrough technologies will not be developed in our country”, concluded Grigory Vygon.