OREANDA-NEWS. May 04, 2010. TATNEFT initiated holding round table discussions on the problems of oil fields development with hard-to-recover oil at RIA Novosti premises in Moscow. Participants discussed the need for state support of oil production from small fields, application of innovative technologies for enhanced oil recovery, as well as State support for application of thermal methods for extra-viscous oil deposits development, reported the press-centre of Tatneft.

The round table was attended by Foat Komarov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee; Anatoly Dmitrievsky, Academician, Director of the Oil and Gas Problems Institute of the Russian Academy of Science; Valery Graifer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of LUKOIL; Rais Khisamov, Deputy General Director - Chief Geologist of OAO TATNEFT; representatives OAO Russneft, TNK-BP, Shell, AFK Sistema, AssoNeft and several other oil companies. The discussions were also attended by senior officials of the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Energy, leading experts, analysts and media representatives.

The problems of developing small deposits and deposits of extra-viscous oil are becoming increasingly relevant in connection with the increasing depletion of large fields and the increase of the hard-to-recover share oil reserves in the resource base of the country. Commissioning of small deposits, which are plenty in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Udmurtia and in Samara region, will have a positive impact on the total amount of oil production in the country, as well as it will assist in solving the employment problem. It will also enhance loading of the related industries with increase of the tax revenues.

However, development of small and extra-viscous oil fields requires the same investments in exploration and construction, as development of the large ones. In addition, the requirement to utilize no less than 95% of associated gas makes it necessary to construct new appropriate facilities and that will also lead to more expensive production. Therefore, the round table participants believe that the development of small deposits will have no prospects without governmental help.

Earlier, the top managers of LUKOIL, ROSNEFT and TATNEFT applied to the Government of the Russian Federation with a letter about the need for State encouragement of the small fields development. The document noted that the existing taxation system makes development the oil fields with reserves less than 10 million tons unprofitable, and such fields account for 14% of balance sheet reserves of the country.

The round table participants presented their position on the need of governmental support to involve hard-to-recover oil reserves into development. In particular, the following suggestions were made:

establish a differentiated tax rates on hydrocarbons production in the event of developing smaller fields taking into account the volume of recoverable oil reserves;

adopt and implement the State program for exploration and development of extra-viscous oil deposits;

set up a zero export customs duty rate for extra-viscous oil;

elaborate State regulatory mechanism, providing for increasing the oil recovery factor and rational management of recoverable oil reserves;

ensure economic incentives for innovative technologies and equipment for enhanced oil recovery application (increasing the oil recovery factor).).

The round table participants noted that such events contribute to the search for common ground interests of the State, branch of science and oilmen in the formulation of common approaches to the rational use of the most important strategic resource of the country, which is oil.