OREANDA-NEWS. November 01, 2011. A meeting chaired by Rustam Minnikhanov, President of Tatarstan, on the subject "Results of the activities of the small oil companies of the Republic of Tatarstan for 9 months of 2011 and the tasks of further development" was held in Almetyevsk. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Tatarstan's Cabinet of Ministers, the Republic of Tatarstan President's Executive Office, the leadership of TATNEFT headed by Shafagat Takhautdinov, General Director of the Company, as well as by heads of independent oil companies of the Republic of Tatarstan, reported the press-centre of TATNEFT.

The Head of the Republic presented the results of crude oil production in Tatarstan for 9 months of the current year amounting to 24,339 thousand tons (100.3% versus the same period of the last year). 19,393 thousand tons were produced by TATNEFT. The amount of 4,946 thousand tons was produced by the independent oil companies, which according to the President make a worthy contribution to the volume of crude oil production in the Republic.

Fanis Valiev, General Director of "Neftekonsortsium", presented to the participants of the meeting the results of the independent oil companies' activities for the reporting period and the expected operation results in 2011. The following annual figures are anticipated: crude oil production - over 6.5 million tons (including the severance tax exemption for the volume of more than 760 thousand tons), production drilling - over 240 thousand meters, exploration drilling - more than 30 thousand meters, payments to the consolidated budget of the Republic of Tatarstan - 5,430 million rubles, bringing the utilization of the associated petroleum gas by the independent oil companies up to 83% by the end of 2011. The Head of "Neftekonsortsium" emphasized that the structural divisions of TATNEFT were major providers of services for many independent oil companies ensuring stability in their operation.

Renat Muslimov, Consultant to the President of Tatarstan on the development of oil and gas fields, presented substantiating information on the volumes of crude oil production and drilling for the independent oil companies of the Republic of Tatarstan for 2012-2014, noting that the geological data obtained in the 80ies of the last century had not changed, as evidenced by current studies.

Rustam Minnikhanov, President of the Republic of Tatarstan, identified priorities for further development of the independent oil companies. This is a matter of transfer of the land plots from the agricultural category to the industrial category based on the experience of TATNEFT. ZAO "Neftekonsortsium" overseeing the independent oil companies' activity was assigned a task of a detailed review of each project. Rustam Minnikhanov recommended using TATNEFT's experience of an individual approach to each well.

Concluding the meeting, the Head of the Republic instructed relevant ministries to establish conditions for the small oil companies to develop and create and operate. Rustam Minnikhanov also expressed gratitude to TATNEFT and personally to Shafagat Takhautdinov, as well as to the small oil companies for the help in solving social problems. As one example, the President called the housing construction program of mortgage credit lending. "Although it is also called social mortgage, it may be called oil backed mortgage - Head of the Republic noted, - as the basic funds for implementation of this program come from crude oil."