Rustam Minnikhanov meets senior executives of small oil companies

On May 25, at their meeting in the Government House of the republic, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov and senior executives of small oil companies (SOC) discussed the results of work in the first quarter of the current year and set tasks for further development.

Minnikhanov emphasized that in the first quarter of 2020 the oil market was under the negative impact of the termination of the OPEC + deal and the coronavirus pandemic. The average price of Russian oil amounted to 29 US dollars per barrel in March this year. This is 2.3 times less than in March last year. In April, the average price of Urals was already at 18 US dollars per barrel, which is almost 4 times lower than the price of April last year.

According to Minnikhanov, the situation with coronavirus has a negative impact on the level of economic activity. This concerns not only the oil and gas sector, but also all sectors of the economy. Despite the situation, according to the results of the first quarter of the current year, positive dynamics was maintained in the republic, he emphasized.

“The engine of our economy is the oil industry. This industry is in a difficult situation. The country's leadership pays great attention to this issue. Today, there is some stabilization, due to the reduction of production. But there is no other way. The problem of coronavirus has affected the whole world. The consumer market for petroleum products and petrochemicals has plummeted. This had an impact on our supplies,” Tatarstan President said.

Director General of Nefteconsorcium Oil Company Fanis Valiev reported that 1 m 783 thousand tonnes of oil were produced by small oil companies in the first quarter of the current year, which is 119,000 thousand tonnes higher than the set target for the current year and amounted to 107 per cent of the established volumes. The share of oil produced by small companies amounted to 19.9 per cent ​​of the total volume in the republic. The established targets for oil production were fulfilled by 27 companies.

Deputy Head of the Volga Department of Federal Service for Environmental, Technology and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor) Rodion Karpov reported on industrial safety conditions at hazardous production facilities of small oil companies. He said that over the past two years, emergency situations and accidents at small oil companies have been avoided.