Belarus’ oil output may grow from 1.7m tonnes to 3.5m tonner per year – Lukashenko

<p> MINSK, Sep 6 – PrimePress. Belarus’ own oil production can grow from the current 1.7 million tonnes to 3-3.5 million tonnes per year by means of developing new fields. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko stated that on 6 September at a meeting with Belorusneft CEO Alexander Lyakhov, the president’s press service reports. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Lukashenko: “I am deeply interested in and concerned about the problem of the Pripyat Trough. I have a gut feeling there is oil over there that we don’t see yet… You’ve studied this problem. If you suggest something, I am ready to be directly involved in it. But in a way to increase oil extraction up to at least 3-3.5 million tonnes per annum. It is a solution of the problem for the country. We will forget about any dependence.” </p> <p>   </p> <p> He recalled that there had been a time when “we (even before us) produced more than 8 million tonnes of oil”. “We pumped out our oil because we mistakenly believed that we had a sea of oil in Belarus. Maybe we have something there. Maybe there is some sea that we have not yet found. This is the main topic of today's meeting. But if we produced 8-9 million tonnes of oil today, we would live better than the richest countries on our planet,” said Lukashenko. </p> <p>   </p> <p> In order to optimize the country’s oil supply, it is necessary to annually increase own production, including from oil fields in Russia, said Lukashenko. In his words, the issue may be discussed at the upcoming talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on 9 September. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “We have to expand our operations every year, and not only abroad. You are doing very well in the Russian Federation. You have gone from well repair works to oil production. Tell me how things are there. This is a very important topic for me ahead of the meeting with the Russian President. Perhaps, you will have some suggestions that will be of interest to Russia and Belarus. I will discuss them with him,” said Lukashenko. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Lyakhov informed that for the last four years the company has been increasing oil extraction in Belarus’ territory by 20,000 tonnes. “We once reached a plateau of 1,640,000 tonnes five years ago. This year we intend to extract at least 1,730,000 tonnes. We intend to keep increasing oil extraction in Belarus like this for the next few years,” Lyakhov said. </p> <p>   </p> <p> The Belorusneft chief explained that the oil extraction increase rate depends on a number of factors. “Such as the success of geological exploration work in the traditional zone in the northern trough – Rechitsa, Svetlogorsk, Oktyabrsky. In the last ten years we started working in the area of Khoiniki District. We’ve been discovering virtually 2-3 oil fields around Khoiniki every year for the last few years. Oil extraction in the area has virtually reached 70,000 tonnes. We are trying to secure the levels we’ve reached,” he said. </p> <p>   </p> <p> As previously reported, Russia-based Yangpur Oil Company, a subsidiary of Belarus’ state-owned Belorusneft (Rechitsa, Gomel Oblast), has acquired Russian oil and gas company Purneft LLC). Yangpur Oil Company JSC became a 100% shareholder in Purneft LLC, which made it possible for Yangpur to increase the total area of assets in Russia’s Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District to 2 thousand square kilometres. Purneft LLC has been operating since 2007, owns 69 oil wells in the Ust-Purpeysk area in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. </p> <p>   </p> <p> According to Belorusneft experts, the acquisition of the new asset will allow Yangpur to significantly increase its annual hydrocarbon production. In 2021 it will total 316 thousand tons of oil and gas condensate and 1.23 billion cubic meters of associated and natural gas. By 2025, the level of hydrocarbon recovery in oil equivalent is expected to reach the volume received by oil producers in the Belarusian region - about 1.7 million tonnes per year. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Belorusneft has been producing oil in the Russian Federation since 2013. Belorusneft’s first oil producing asset in Russia was Yangpur Oil Company, which holds licences for the right to use subsoil of the 1,036 sq km Izvestinsky licence area and the 493.5 sq km Yuzhno-Tydeottinsky licence area located in the Purovsky District of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, Tyumen Region. Yangpur has 7 fields and development is underway at 6 fields. Annual production of oil and gas condensate is about 300 thousand tons of marketable product, natural gas - about 1 billion cubic metres. Belorusneft operates in this region on the basis of a closed collection system with established schemes for sales of marketable product through the Transneft system. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Belorusneft was founded in 1966. The company specializes in exploration works, oil extraction, gas processing, and offers a wide range of seismic exploration operations. Belorusneft provides oil extraction services in Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela and Ecuador, facilitates crude supplies to the Belarusian oil refineries (Mozyr Oil Refinery, Gomel Oblast, and Naftan OJSC, Novopolotsk, Vitebsk Oblast) on a give-and-take basis. Belorusneft sells oil products through its own chain of refilling stations and trading companies, and is engaged in the oil product export. End </p>

2021-09-07

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