This year marks the 75th anniversary of Tyumen geology.
President of the Union of Oil Industry of the Russian Federation Gennady Shmal noted that earlier university students could say without hesitation that the subsoil of Western Siberia is the basis of the Russian economy. The taxes levied here provide for more than half of the federal budget. However, now the authorities are changing their accents and changes are required in the exploration, production and processing of hydrocarbons.
The creation of the Tyumen Region in 1944 and the Tyumen oil exploration expedition four years later became thoughtful decisions. The geological industry became the engine of industrial development of the territory, where cities and towns grew, railways and highways were built, and the population of the then unified region tripled. However, in the late 1980s, geologists were pushed aside, considering that the reserves they found would last for many decades.
The participants of the profile scientific and practical conference are confident that the territory will fill the treasury for a long time. Accumulated gas production in Russia amounts to 26 trillion cubic meters, of which 22 trillion are from the depths of Western Siberia. Oil production is 26 and 14 billion tons, respectively. This is entirely the merit of Tyumen residents. However, reserves are not eternal, so you need to make decisions about further development of the subsoil right now.
Honored Geologist of Russia Anatoly Brekhuntsov proposes to prepare a strategy for the development of the oil and gas industry in Western Siberia until 2035, and a concept until 2050, with tasks, volumes, cost of work, technologies and equipment. It is also necessary to conduct an audit and identify low-pressure gas, watered and dilute oil reserves, deposits of lower horizons with abnormal pressure, oil fringes. Finally, it is necessary to re-evaluate the initial total resources of hydrocarbon raw materials.
Anatoly Tokarev, Deputy Director of the Institute of Economics and Industrial Production Organization of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, supports Brekhuntsov’s ideas. He believes that in order to transform the potential value of the subsoil into real economic effects, it is necessary to go through a number of stages. The first of them is geological exploration, without which the development, extraction, use and processing of UVS are impossible. The most important point is the strengthening of interregional ties between Yugra and Yamal with the south of the Tyumen region, which is necessary due to a significant increase in the share of hard-to-recover reserves and the need for import substitution of equipment.
The oil and gas cluster created here is aimed at solving these issues, which includes 115 enterprises from 20 regions of the country with revenue exceeding two trillion rubles and almost 60 thousand employees. Tokarev clarifies that cooperative chains linked to innovative products and services in the cluster will determine the development of the industry in the near future.
Brekhuntsov also believes that the fuel and energy complex of Russia needs a radical restructuring, and for this it is necessary to re-organize the Ministry of Geology with economic functions, return the “second key” to the regions for subsurface management and restore academic and departmental geological science.