Not all ours?

As sanctions on the Russian oil industry, the rating agency Fitch analyzed

In a special press release, Fitch writes that, first of all, deposits in Western Siberia with a degree of production of more than 75% (so-called brunfields) will suffer from sanctions for the supply of equipment. This is due to the fact that these deposits use the same methods of increasing production as for shale oil, the technology for the extraction of which has become the subject of sanctions.

In the medium term, sanctions can cause suspension of some large -scale Russian projects, especially on the Arctic shelf. But what will be the real effect depends on how exactly the sanctions are applied. The EU press release of July 29 states that for export in the Russian Federation energy-tied equipment will need to be preliminary permit. If the equipment is used for deep -sea production, at the Arctic shelf or at shale deposits, it will be denied it. The United States announced similar sanctions. The situation with brunfields in Western Siberia will depend on whether they will fall under the definition of shale oil deposits and on the duration of the process of obtaining permits.

Since the West Siberian Brownfields are on the verge of exhaustion, Russian oil companies switch to oil production from hard-to-reach rocks. For example, Gazpromneft, the Gazprom oil subsidiary, has hopes for wells with horizontal drilling, which in 2013 accounted for 42% of all drilled wells of 4% in 2011), as well as for multi-level hydraulic explosive technology, which was used in 57% of high-tech wells in 2011 in 2011). The inability to import equipment will not allow the development of hard -to -reach deposits, Fitch believes.

Yes, the Russian shaft oil and fields in the Arctic shelf have great potential, which allowed Russian oil companies to build long -term plans until 2020 and further. However, these companies, agency analysts believe, have very limited experience in working with non -traditional deposits requiring specialized technologies, and therefore strongly depend on joint ventures with Western firms - Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP, as well as oil services, such as Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes. Sanctions can put a cross on these joint ventures. Thus, under the blow are Rosneft and Gazpromneft, to a lesser extent - Lukoil, Novatek and Tatneft.

According to Fitch, the measures announced by the EU will not directly influence the development of joint projects Rosneft and Exxon Mobil for the development of gas fields and the construction of the plant for the production of liquefied natural gas in the Far East, they will not affect the projects of Total, the Chinese National Oil and General Corporation (CNPC) and Novatek on Yamal Peninsula. “But we believe that the latest sanctions and the possibility of tightening measures will reduce the interest of Western companies in new projects,” the agency analysts believe.