CONCLUSIONS
Maintaining Russia’s leadership on the energy market is an overriding priority
«Today, the key task is to ensure Russia’s entry into the world’s top five economies. Clearly, the Russian fuel and energy sector is already a world leader, however, given all the trends <...> related to the changing energy landscape, maintaining leadership is a great and serious task,» stated Alexey Texler, First Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.
«We are dealing with a market which is growing. In this situation, generation may become very important,» noted Denis Fedorov, General Director of Gazprom Energoholding.
PROBLEMS
Negative impact of sanctions
«Owing to the sanctions, Russia has is facing the need to become self-sufficient. Yet the greatest risk remains loss of Russia’s positions on the global energy market,» reckons Adi Karev, Global Oil and Gas Sector Leader at Ernst & Young.
«2008 was the last year when oil companies developed technologies together with Russian contractors. After that, the price of oil dropped sharply and the main priority for oil companies became to get equipment at the lowest possible price. <...> Partly, oil companies began to set up their own research centres. <...> This did not prove a very efficient choice <...> from the point of view of using such equipment on the highly competitive market,» argued Maksim Perelman, General Director of Novomet.
Regulation lagging behind technological changes
«Decades ago, technologies involving millions of people took some 70 years to develop (for example, planes), yet today, it takes just a couple of years. Even so, our bureaucratic machine is so slow that any more or less complex bills take up to three years to pass. <...> If renewing corporate strategies takes years, we will not only fail to maintain our leadership, we will be late everywhere,» warned Grigory Vygon, Managing Director of VYGON Consulting.
SOLUTIONS
Creating clear rules of the game on the market
«What is needed is the set of measures we have prepared and are promoting together with the Energy Ministry. This includes long-term tariffs, normalizing privileged connections, reference adjustment; this is the issue of not cancelling privileges that cannot be compensated for by raising tariffs such as property tax; this is payment for contracted capacity <...> We have to prevent loss of consumers,» believes Pavel Livinsky, General Director of Rosseti.
«This competition is for entry on to this market <...> with respect to offering better conditions for consumers, including by agreement with regional authorities,» remarked Vitaly Korolev, Deputy Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS Russia).
Development strategies must consider energy issues
«Drafting of the strategy for the country’s spatial development is almost complete. It must not be separated from the Energy Ministry,» stressed Valery Chichkanov, Adviser to the President and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
«For competition to develop normally, there must be conditions for creating independent oil companies, or the model of the gas market will change,» Grigory Vygon stated.
Intensive introduction of new technologies, comprehensive approach to import substitution
«Technological test sites are a tool for global development. This year, we have built one such test site in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District. All this is happening with government support and this project has been given national status. We are opening up free access there and awaiting startups,» said Alexey Malyutin, Head of Prospective Development Department of the Exploration and Production Unit of Gazprom Neft.
«At this point, not a single company, however large it might be, is able to create all the necessary equipment for the fuel and energy sector. There is a need for cooperation among participants in the import substitution process. And, talking about production localization <...> it must be a fully comprehensive approach, including research, engineering solutions and then serial production,» explained Oleg Zhdaneev, Head of the Development and Production of Oil and Gas Equipment Department of Technology Company Schlumberger.
Providing conditions for investment in the fuel and energy sector
«Such initiatives of a regulatory nature already exist: taxes, development of competition in the oil and gas sector. In the first case, I am referring to our initiative to introduce an excess profits tax and develop LNG plants. <...> We have huge resources that we shall and must monetize,» Alexey Texler concluded.
Risk analysis
«The risks and challenges that exist must be recognised. On more than one occasion, I have heard from many managers in the oil and gas industry that there is no LNG, no shale gas, that electric cars do not threaten the demand for oil. Yet, if we fail to acknowledge these risks, we will not be able to respond to them,» Grigory Vygon warned.
More detailed information is available on the website of the Roscongress Foundation information and analytical system.
