Russian oil and gas companies, despite the need to maintain the resource base, are in no hurry to begin geological exploration in new remote regions, as this is an expensive pleasure without sufficient guarantees. Therefore, the state should stimulate them. The greatest efficiency in this area can only be achieved through joint efforts with participants in the fuel and energy sector, who will subsequently conduct further exploration and development.
The structure of hydrocarbon production in Russia may change significantly in the long term. If now the main volume of production in the country is provided by resources discovered in the USSR in traditional oil and gas provinces, then in 15-20 years they should be replaced by new deposits in remote regions and at sea. Thus, according to Skoltech forecasts, if production remains at 10.5 million barrels per day until 2035, the contribution of existing fields will decrease from 9.4 million barrels per day in 2015 to 7 million barrels per day in 2035, new ones will increase from 0.1 to 0.9 million barrels per day, and fields with hard-to-recover reserves (HRR) will from 0.7 to 1.6 million barrels per day. Offshore projects will account for 1 million barrels per day in total production.
The key factor in implementing this forecast is the study of subsoil and the development of new territories in sufficient volume. So far, the investment programs of large oil and gas companies allow for the reproduction of reserves, but do not provide the opportunity to enter hydrocarbon production in new regions, Deputy Head of Rosnedra Orest Kasparov reported at the end of September. According to the agency’s estimates, over the past five years, subsoil users have annually allocated approximately 320 billion rubles for exploration. But despite the preservation of exploration drilling, 2D and 3D seismic exploration on a certain shelf, most of the reserves are replenished by additional exploration within the limits of previously issued licenses.
In turn, the state is counting on the largest players in the oil and gas sector entering new, poorly studied territories.
Hard-to-recovery reserves are acquiring special significance in this period of depletion of easily accessible hydrocarbons.By 2040-2045, their significance will approach the combined contribution of new fields and the shelf, believes Roman Panov, president of Russia's largest seismic exploration company Geotek. He notes that the level of exploration of the country's territory is currently extremely uneven. First of all, the eastern direction remains underexplored. For example, the density of exploration in Eastern Siberia and the Far East is more than ten times less than in the main old oil and gas provinces. In this regard, more rational implementation of regional and exploration work is required in order to obtain the best results, the head of Geotek is sure. In his opinion, the state, for its part, should increase the interest of subsoil users in licensing in new territories through regional seismic exploration work and parametric drilling carried out using budget funds. For now, the remoteness of the territories being studied repels companies. Igor Shpurov, General Director of the State Commission on Mineral Reserves under Rosnedra, agrees with him. During TNF-2024, he noted that the state is carrying out large-scale work to stimulate the development and extraction of hard-to-recover reserves, but it should be continued, including in terms of regulatory control.
Nevertheless, there is currently a reduction in the volume of state funding for geological exploration of promising areas, and the volume of regional 2D seismic exploration on land needs to be stabilized at a level of at least 15-20 thousand linear kilometers, the volume of parametric drilling - at the level of 10 thousand m per year, Geoteka notes.
At the same time, state plans for exploration should be agreed with potential licensors. This will help avoid a situation where the government spends budget funds on assessing promising areas, but the industry is not interested in studying these areas due to their poor study and remoteness from infrastructure. "In connection with the current situation in the country, the state should stimulate the industry not to reduce investment programs in exploration at the exploration stage - acquisition of licenses, 2D seismic exploration work and drilling of exploration wells," Roman Panov emphasizes.
Earlier, the First Deputy Minister of Energy of Russia Pavel Sorokin also noted that more expensive and complex technologies must be used to develop TRIZ, which requires uniting the market from the point of view of creating a single order, standardization and certification of equipment.
The head of Geoteka is confident that national seismic exploration companies have sufficient competencies and technologies to intensify exploration. Thus, Russian geophysicists successfully apply modern methods of seismic signal excitation, but now the main seismic recording equipment on land is the French SERCEL system, which is not supplied to Russia due to sanctions. The equipment available in the country is sufficient to perform the necessary volume of work for the next five years. That is, Russian geophysicists have 3-5 years to create a reliable cable system or switch to cable-free systems, says Geoteka, which itself patented a method and system for collecting seismic data using independent excitation by pulsed sources in motion (ISSD) technology in March 2024. The company emphasized that experimental and methodological work and tests showed better detailing of geological objects due to a significantly higher density of seismic data.
which in March 2024 patented a method and system for collecting seismic data using independent excitation by pulsed sources in motion (ISSD) technology. The company emphasized that experimental and methodological work and tests showed better detailing of geological objects due to a significantly higher density of seismic data.
which in March 2024 patented a method and system for collecting seismic data using independent excitation by pulsed sources in motion (ISSD) technology. The company emphasized that experimental and methodological work and tests showed better detailing of geological objects due to a significantly higher density of seismic data.