Russian oil and gas

Overview

• Russia is the world’s largest producer of crude oil and second largest producer of natural gas.
• Economic growth is driven by energy exports.
• Oil and gas revenues accounted for 50% of Russia’s federal budget revenues and 68% of exports in 2013.
• Russia and Europe are said to be interdependent in terms of energy.
• Over 30% of European crude and natural gas supplies came from Russia in 2014.
• In 2014, over 70% of Russia’s crude exports and 90% of natural gas exports went to Europe.
• There are approximately 20 ports serving as export outlets for Russian hydrocarbons.

Oil

• In January, proved oil reserves stood at 80 billion bbls.
• Russia exported approximately 3.5 billion bpd in crude oil last year.
• Most of the country’s oil production originates in West Siberia and the Urals-Volga regions.
• Russia has several oil grades but its main export grade is Urals blend.
• Most of Russia’s oil production is dominated by domestic firms.
• Last year, Asia accounted for 26% of Russian crude exports.

Oil products

• In 2014, Russia produced an estimated 10.9 million bpd of petroleum and other liquids.
• Last year, Russia had approximately 7.3 million bpd of petroleum and other liquids available for export.
• Russia has 40 refineries with a total crude distillation capacity of 5.5 million bpd.
• Rosneft is Russia’s largest refinery operator.
• A large portion of the country’s refineries are old and simple with low quality fuel oil accounting for a large part of their output.

Natural gas

• As of January, Russia held the world’s largest natural gas reserves, with 1688 trillion ft3.
• These reserves account for approximately a quarter of the world’s total proved reserves.
• Gazprom dominates Russia’s natural gas upstream sector.
• The majority of the country’s natural gas reserves under development and production are in northern West Siberia.
• Natural gas associated with oil production is often flared.
• A number of government initiatives and policies have set targets to reduce routine flaring of associated gas.
• Last year, approximately 90% of Russia’s 7.1 trillion ft3 of natural gas exports went to Europe.
• Russia has one operating LNG export facility.
• The majority of Russian LNG has been contracted to Japanese and South Korean buyers under long term supply agreements.
• There are several proposals for new LNG terminals in Russia.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/29072015/russian-oil-gas/