[Tanada]

Is anyone here actually surprised? I am more impressed that they kept it going this long than I am surprised the party is coming to an end. Proof positive IMO that the Soviet system had to have been horribly inefficient in producing oil from these fields. If the first run had been more efficient they would already be into steep declines year over year, just like Cantarell and Yibal the Russian fields are old and worn.

Modern Technology has given them a heck of a last huzzah, but they should have used it to convert infrastructure to alternatives cause when it goes this time it really is gone.

[Armageddon]

I wonder who will decline faster, Russia or SA ?

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')nly two of Russia's 14 largest oil producing fields were opened after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and half of the 14 were more than 60 percent depleted in 2006. As fields are depleted, pumping oil out of them generally becomes harder and more expensive.

[Cashmere]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'T')hanks for the article vision-master.

Why are we wasting our time in Afghanistan? We've known since 2000 that the Kashagan field is only 13 billion barrels. It'll all go for Russian and European consumption.

The Americanskies are dumber than the Russkies.

[Roccland]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cashmere', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'T')hanks for the article vision-master.

Why are we wasting our time in Afghanistan? We've known since 2000 that the Kashagan field is only 13 billion barrels. It'll all go for Russian and European consumption.

The Americanskies are dumber than the Russkies.

[Serial_Worrier]

Basically Putin and his gang of criminals pumped ever last drop of oil to increase their cash horde. For what purpose, who knows.

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DantesPeak', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')nly two of Russia's 14 largest oil producing fields were opened after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and half of the 14 were more than 60 percent depleted in 2006. As fields are depleted, pumping oil out of them generally becomes harder and more expensive.

[nobodypanic]

i wonder why they want control of the BTC and georgia...?

[nobodypanic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', 'i') wonder why they want control of the BTC and georgia...?

[gw]

Russia may still have substantial undeveloped resources. Just like everywhere else, the cheaper stuff is largely tapped out, but exploitable resources still exist if sufficient investment is made.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Russian government will double state spending on oil exploration to 2020 to $23 billion with the focus on oil in eastern Siberia to ensure a “good” replenishment of reserves, the country’s Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said yesterday.

“Two years ago, we said the growth rate was falling, and we said this was bad for Russia, remember?” Trutnev said in televised remarks after the meeting. “Now we’re saying the production rate is falling this year. This is not a bogeyman, unfortunately, this is real”.

[gmin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Petrodollar', '
')For example, in 2007 China will likely be able to buy Venezuelan-sourced oil via the euro-based Iranian oil bourse and conduct those transactions in euros.

[JPL]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gmin', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Petrodollar', '
')For example, in 2007 China will likely be able to buy Venezuelan-sourced oil via the euro-based Iranian oil bourse and conduct those transactions in euros.

[Graeme]

Russia tries to raise oil production

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ith analysts expecting production to fall this year for the first time in a decade, Russian companies are pushing to find new oil in remote regions such as the Arctic Shelf and East Siberia — but their efforts are hampered by crippling taxes that give the government much of the recent gains from high oil prices.

Oil production reached 9.87 million barrels per day last year, a 2.3 percent rise. It is down 0.5 percent in the first eight months of the year. While the Energy Ministry is sticking with its forecast of 1 percent production growth this year, analysts expect production to decline by up to 0.5 percent — its first decline in 10 years — followed by a rebound next year, as the already approved tax cuts take effect.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he era of cheap gas is coming to an end, Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has told ministers from the world's major gas-exporting countries.

Iran and Libya are among the countries attending the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Moscow.

Mr Putin said the cost of extracting gas was rising sharply, therefore "the era of cheap energy resources, of cheap gas, is of course coming to an end".

Some observers say the GECF may develop into an Opec-style producers' cartel.

Mr Putin said Russia was ready to set up the GECF headquarters in St Petersburg and give it full diplomatic status.

[kublikhan]

With all of the new interest in extracting natural gas from unconventional sources like shale gas, I am not sure how much muscle a natural gas cartel would have.

[dorlomin]

The UK has just built a brand new LNG terminal over at Milford Haven. As the UK is hooked up to Germany with gas pipelines, that means that the UK and Germany can buy from South Pars\ North Field or other majors fields that export via LNG.

Putins problem is he is running out of gas to keep selling and its getting more expensive to develop new sources. He is starting to find himself in a tough old bind.

Running an oil and gas empire is easy when the prices keep going up.....