reply Russia plans new oil strategy: "Before the end of the oil era, sell all that can be sold"

Russia's new master plan for the development of its oil industry until 2035 should take into account the possible decline in global demand for oil, and it would be better to postpone Arctic development to create the most accessible oil fields, the Independent reported on its website on April 15. Ahead of the approval, the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, briefed the oil industry on its priorities on Thursday. The gist of the plan is that, in the context of the energy transition, everything that can be sold should be sold."The worldwide energy transition has not only begun, it is moving at full speed," said Pavel Zavalene, chairman of the State Duma's energy committee.The world added 40 gigawatts of new thermal power capacity last year, compared with 150 gigawatts of new renewable power capacity.In another 30 years, he says, no one will want Russia's oil. "Oil companies are moving from being just oil companies to being energy companies," he warns. As a result, many of the world's banks are no longer financing oil projects, "he said.The hydrocarbon nature of the world's energy will last until at least 2035, the report said. That means Russia still has time to adjust its industries and change its economic direction.The goal is to maximize the monetization of existing reserves and resources. Zavaline explained: "To mine everything and sell it... Our task is to monetize what is out of the ground, and in time to channel the money from oil and gas exports into the direction of the economy that is going to grow. Our [oil] companies will become more and more like energy companies rather than oil companies."According to the report, the new oil industry development master plan, oil demand will peak between 2030 and 2035. This has been helped by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is likely to have a negative impact on global oil consumption until 2023-2024."The oil industry's long and extensive growth over the past 25 years is nearing the end of its natural potential," the draft plan states. In addition, the EU could introduce cross-border carbon controls on hydrocarbon imports after 2025. As a result, the Russian oil industry needs to prepare for a prolonged slump or drop in demand in the world oil market. This will both increase international competition for sales and make the industry less attractive for investment.The draft plan predicts that Russia could find more oil reserves in the future. On average, there should be 1.2 times as much oil as has been discovered. "In order to maintain a stable level of oil extraction until 2035, oil reserves need to be expanded to more than 10.4 billion tons between 2021 and 2035," the draft said.According to the report, the main growth areas of Russia's oil reserves will continue to be West Siberia, Lena - Tunguska, the Caspian Sea coast, Zyman-Berchola and Volga-Urals oil and gas accumulation belt. In addition, the development of oil and gas fields on the continental shelf will also bring more reserves growth.Russia has studied 60 percent of its technically recoverable domestic oil reserves, the report said. Between 36 and 64 per cent of the 17.2 billion tonnes of reserves can still be extracted profitably. The contribution of new fields to total oil production will continue to expand. The share of production from new fields will rise to 21% to 25% by 2025 and 34% to 43% by 2035, Anton Rubuzov, head of the Department of Oil and Gas Processing at the Federal Energy Ministry, said in a speech at the State Duma's Energy Committee on Thursday.