Russian proven oil reserves will run out in 28 years

Sergei Donskoy, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, said in an interview that Russia's proven oil reserves will last a little more than 28 years, so it is necessary to continue exploration drilling.

“In terms of proven reserves, production will only be secured for 28 years,” Donskoy said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta. He noted that recoverable oil reserves reach about 29 billion tons.

The minister clarified that he proceeds from the calculation of those reserves that can theoretically be extracted from the subsoil. Taking into account that the production of crude oil, excluding gas condensate, in 2015, according to preliminary data, amounted to about 505 million tons, then according to these figures, "open reserves will last for 57 years."

However, the volume of proven reserves, according to Donskoy, "about which we know exactly where and how much, how to extract them, according to experts, is half as much, about 14 billion tons."

He noted that the share of hard-to-recover oil reserves is growing in the total production volume. Their development requires significant costs and development of production technologies and new drilling rigs. At present, with regard to the recoverable oil reserves, the minister specified that their "withdrawal rates are not high." Therefore, he believes that without new discoveries, the volume of production of traditional reserves will decline starting in 2020.

According to the minister, an increase in the share of hard-to-recover oil in the total volume of production will reduce the economic efficiency of projects, therefore, geological exploration will continue.