80-90 Billion Dollars of Investment will Be Needed to Develop Oil and Gas Complex

The development of the oil and gas complex of Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, taking into consideration the implementation of promising international projects in the next twenty years, will require a $80-90 billion worth of investment, RIA Novosti was told in the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation.

A ministry spokesman pointed out that the prospected resources of oil in that region amounted to 954 million tons. The oil in Eastern Siberia and the Far East is of a high quality and is in great demand. According to expert estimates, in 2010, China's demand in oil will amount to 400 million tons and in gas - to 100 billion cubic metres; Japan will need 250 million tons of oil and 90 billion cubic metres of gas in 2010, and South Korea - 150 million tons of oil and 40 billion cubic metres of gas.

However, at the present time, Russia does not have a sufficient infrastructure to transport oil and gas from Eastern Siberia and the Far East to other countries. Therefore, four big projects for exporting oil and gas in the following directions are being discussed now: Angarsk - Dacang to make it possible by 2010 to pump up to 30 million tons of oil; Angarsk - Nakhodka to pump up to 50 million tons of oil; Angarsk - Nakhodka with a branch towards Dacang, and another project of exporting oil from Sakhalin.

The programme for the development of the oil and gas complex of Eastern Siberia and the Far East, worked out by the Ministry of Energy, provides, in particular, for the exploitation of the oil and gas condensate deposits in the Krasnodar Territory, the Kovykta deposit and also the resources of the Sakhalin Island. Investment to a value of some $15 billion will be needed in the next twenty years to develop these deposits.