Translated material
Associated gas!
The President of Russia decided to get involved in petrochemicals
Vladimir Putin yesterday held another meeting dedicated to the development of the oil and gas industry, which is key for the Russian economy and for political alignments. “Today the share of the oil sector in the Russian economy is almost 50%, while petrochemicals is only one and a half,” the head of state said in his opening remarks. -- Domestic enterprises lag significantly behind foreign companies in terms of the depth of oil refining and the yield of basic petroleum products. By exporting raw materials, Russia is then forced to purchase many oil and gas chemical products, ranging from plastics to chemical fibers. In fact, the poor development of the processing industry results in significant economic costs for us. We are also losing the opportunity to occupy more profitable niches in the global division of labor.”Experts believe that now that Vladimir Putin has personally taken up the problems of the petrochemical market, serious changes are possible in it as early as next year (no one can predict what exactly). After all, Rosneft is becoming a major player. industry and energy Victor Khristenko. It is still unknown what policy in petrochemicals this largest oil company in Russia will adhere to.
For several years, Vladimir Putin has often spoken about the need to develop oil refining capacity in Russia. However, until recently, he addressed his calls to oil companies, which, in his opinion, should have increased the production of petroleum products and exported them, rather than raw materials. Now, for the first time, the president drew the attention of officials responsible for the fuel and energy complex to petrochemicals. At yesterday's meeting, he called the relevant ministers - industry and energy Viktor Khristenko, natural resources Yuri Trutnev and economic development German Gref, as well as officials of the presidential administration - its head Sergei Sobyanin and the head of the expert department Arkady Dvorkovich. The companies represented the heads of Rosneft and Transneft Sergei Bogdanchikov and Semyon Vainshtok, as well as Deputy Chairman of the Board of Gazprom Alexander Ananenkov.
Vladimir Putin recalled that the problems of petrochemical development “were discussed in detail at a meeting with business representatives at the beginning of this year, and later an instruction was given to develop a system of measures to stimulate an increase in the processing of mineral raw materials within the country.” “However, work is being carried out, unfortunately, slowly,” the president stated. “Today I would like to talk about what steps have been taken to quickly correct the situation, what we will do in the near future.”
The Ministry of Industry and Energy has been trying to develop a long-term strategy for the development of the petrochemical complex for five years, but so far, as sources familiar with the content of its project say, “only beautiful words have been written there that Russia should develop this industry, and there is not a single mention of how exactly this can be done and what measures are needed to stimulate the development of the industry.” A year ago, Deputy Minister of Industry and Energy Andrei Reus held a retreat on this issue in Kazan to finalize the document and submit it to the government. They even named a specific date for consideration by the Cabinet of Ministers - December 7 last year. But nothing has changed since then - the strategy is still being finalized. The ministry's certificate states that drafts of the strategy itself until 2015 and an action plan for its implementation have been developed, which include several investment projects (construction of the Caspian gas chemical complex, construction of a gas processing plant and a number of chemical production facilities in Tomsk, as well as construction of polypropylene production at LLC "Tobolskneftekhim").
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin raised the issue of associated gas utilization - an ancient problem that the country has not been able to solve since the 1970s. “According to the most minimal estimates, we burn more than 20 billion cubic meters of associated gas every year,” he said yesterday. “Such wastefulness is unacceptable!”
“The measures that need to be taken are well known and have already proven their effectiveness in many countries around the world,” the president continued. -- This is the introduction of an accounting system, an increase in environmental fines, and stricter licensing requirements for subsoil users. Please let me know how work is progressing in all these areas. Indeed, it is necessary to create conditions where it will be profitable to work in this direction. Today it is profitable to burn, but it is unprofitable to process, so they burn.”
He said exactly the same thing in his message to the Federal Assembly, as well as at a meeting at the end of April this year. Since then, Mr. Trutnev held a visiting meeting of the board of the Ministry of Natural Resources in Khanty-Mansiysk, at which he announced the development of a program to reduce the volume of associated gas flaring .
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, Russia currently produces about 55-60 billion cubic meters of associated gas per year, of which 26% is flared, and another 30% is written off for technical support. Thus, only according to official statistics (according to the readings of meters, which are not installed everywhere), about 15 billion cubic meters of gas escape into the pipe every year, but experts have reason to suspect that the real picture is much worse, and 10-15 billion cubic meters which are supposedly pumped into the reservoir or used to service the field, also burn out. By 2011, Mr. Trutnev once again promised, 95% of associated gas will be processed. This will be achieved, according to him, in two ways - by introducing appropriate clauses into license agreements for the development of deposits, as well as fines for burning. True, the Ministry of Natural Resources has not yet developed any document in this regard.
The largest processor of associated gas in Russia is SIBUR - it owns seven of the nine plants in the Tyumen region. And the Russian President’s proposals on the need to increase refining volumes are definitely in his favor, since a sharp tightening of sanctions should force oil workers to be more accommodating on the terms of supplies of associated gas to the holding’s plants. However, oil companies are in no hurry to sell this type of raw material to SIBUR. There are many reasons for this, but the main one is the purchase and sale price of associated gas. Oil workers constantly complain that it is very low, but the price is set by the state. Last week, the heads of some companies wrote a letter to the Federal Tariff Service with a request to consider the issue of liberalizing prices for associated gas, and the FTS even held a corresponding meeting. However, it did not end in anything - representatives of Rosneft advocated state regulation without explaining the reasons.
Another limiting factor for oil workers is the process of utilization of associated petroleum gas itself. The fact is that after processing, not only liquid raw materials for chemical production (NGL) appear, which can be transported by rail, but also dry gas, which requires access to the Gazprom pipe. And there is no free space in it even for supplies from new natural gas fields that independent producers are going to develop.
Also, the question of how associated gas will be delivered to processing plants has not been resolved - transporting it in tanks is practically unprofitable, and therefore the question arises of who will build the product pipelines.
Apparently, these issues were at the center of discussion yesterday. However, how it ended is unknown. Mr. Trutnev only said that, together with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, his ministry will develop a system of increasing payments for the flaring of associated gas, which by 2011 “should take on an almost prohibitive character.” In the meantime, he said, it was decided to install meters for the produced associated gas at the fields. Presumably, the oil workers will install them at their own expense.