Rustam Minnikhanov: We should keep our positions in the world energy sector

On 12 July, speaking at a panel discussion of the Tatarstan Oil Summit in Almetyevsk, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov said that under such difficult conditions it is especially important to preserve position of Russia in the world energy sector. 

This year one of the main topics for professional discussion is the sustainable development of the oil and gas sphere in the context of diversification and technological leadership and welcoming participants of the summit, Rustam Minnikhanov marked that Russian Federation is the largest world power market player. “Of course, not everyone likes the Russia’s serious existence in the world power industry and there are efforts to replace us, in particular by closing the access to the market and technologies”, he said.

However not all countries have negative attitude to Russia, Tatarstan President stated. “Many our partners have preserved relations and this is very important. And as far as technologies are concerned, we have serious scientific research institutes. Today we are in Almetyevsk which is the oil capital of the republic and carries out serious work in establishing an educational and research center. It will conform to international standards”, Minnikhanov stressed. 

Speaking about the III International Oil and Gas Youth Forum organized on the sidelines of the summit with 250 participants from various regions of Russia and foreign countries, Tatarstan president said that such forums are very important from the point of view of training specialists. 

Having said that Tatarstan is one of the largest donor-regions for the federal budget and that oil industry has a substantial share in economy of the republic, Minnikhanov underlined: “Oil is the basis for our refinery industry and further manufacture of various products. That is why we need serious engineering schools”. 

According to the Tatarstan President Almetyevsk must become the best oil school “as a lot is done here due to the industrial partner, namely the Tatneft Oil Company. Without this there is no future. We need new technologies including those for production super-viscous oil as today the republic produces 3.6m tonnes of it. And all equipment used for this is manufactured in Russia. This is a great achievement”.

Also participating in the discussion were Director General of the Tatneft Nail Maganov, Head of the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision Aleksandr Trembitskiy, the Chairman of the Russian State Duma Commission in economic policy Maksim Topilin, and Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Pavel Sorokiv joined them by videoconference. 

Later the same day Rustam Minnikhanov and Nail Maganov looked round an exposition where representatives of oil and gas and petrochemical companies exhibited their equipment and told about technologies they use. Industrial companies and Tatarstan universities also represented their last developments in operation of deposits and production of tight oil.