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#6 - JRL 8191 - JRL Home
RUSSIA TO HAVE MORE OIL AND GAS THAN EXPECTED?

MOSCOW, April 30 (RIA Novosti) - The reserves of oil and gas in Russia may prove to be more than earlier expected, experts polled by RIA Novosti believe.

Russia has over 30 percent of the world proven reserves of gas. As of early 2003, they stood at 47.57 trillion cubic meters. But the figure may well be much more, experts say.

On Friday British newspaper The Financial Times also noted that Russia's resources of oil are much larger than it was earlier supposed. The article says that, in the flow of negative information concerning the Yukos oil company, nobody has paid note to a crucial statement it has made.

It said that, after the audit carried out by the American company DeGoyler&McNaughton, Yukos has declared an appreciable increase in the proven reserves of oil. The estimate was made according to the rules of the American Securities and Exchanges Commission and showed that the Yukos reserves of hydrocarbons had increased from 11.2 billion to 13 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Also, the TNK-BP said that its current reserves, now estimated at 6.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent, may soon increase to 9 billion and, on a longer perspective, reach 30 billion.

The Lukoil official communique, which last week came to hand at RIA Novosti, said that, according to the audit company Miller@Lents (the United States), Lukoil's proven hydrocarbon reserves stood, as January 1, 2004, at 20.056 billion barrels of oil equivalent, including 15.977 billion barrels of oil and 24.473 trillion cubic feet of gas.

In comparison with January 1, 2003, the company's proven reserves of hydrocarbons have increased by 4 percent, including 4.7 percent of oil and 1.3 percent of gas.

In the opinion of analysts, the reserves of oil in Russia, minding the companies' declarations, may prove to be three times more than earlier expected, which makes Russia one of the most attractive source of energy in the world. For full utilisation of their potential the Russian companies will, eventually, require better technologies and oil well management, as well as a greater scope of exploratory drilling and survey to be done.