OREANDA-NEWS. Russian newspaper Vedomosti has published an article which covers the estimation of profitable oil reserves by the Ministry of Energy and the State Commission of Mineral Reserves.

According to the results of the inventory made by the authorities, the average share of profitable reserves following an audit of 483 deposits of the nine largest corporations and 126 deposits of independent companies is 11.2 billion tons, or 65.1 %.

The share of commercially viable oil reserves owned by Surgutneftegas company is the lowest: 548 million tons which amounts 41 % of them.

Tatneft (86.2 %, 564 million tons) turned out to have the largest percentage of profitable reserves, while RussNeft has a slightly lower value – 81.2%, 414 million tons. Rosneft has 69.5 % of profitable reserves (3.9 billion tons), Lukoil has 60 % (1.5 billion tons), and Gazprom Neft has 63 % (1 billion tons).

In early October 2019, the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use estimated the total oil reserves of the 719 fields included in the inventory at 17.2 billion tons. According to the agency, only 11.5 billion tons of oil (67 %) were profitable for production. Month before, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment estimated commercial oil reserves at the end of 2018 at 9.83 billion tons. The total cost of these reserves was estimated at 74.5 trillion roubles (about 1.174 trillion US dollars).

In April, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if oil prices fall below 40 dollars per barrel, production in the United States could become unprofitable. According to the politician, hydrocarbon production in Russia is much cheaper than in the USA, Europe and the Middle East.