Trutnev Warns Oil Firms on Slow Eastern Siberian Finds

Oil companies could be punished for not working fast enough to find new reserves in eastern Siberia to fill a new pipeline to Asia, Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said Wednesday.

The region has been earmarked by the Kremlin for development to replace reserves in western Siberia, the mainstay of Russian oil production for years, where output is expected to shrink.

“The pace [of booking new reserves] is hardly going to ensure a quick replacement of reserves … particularly of crude oil,” Trutnev said in a statement.
There is added urgency because east Siberian crude is wanted to fill the second phase of a pipeline now under construction to pump Russian oil to Asia — part of a Kremlin plan to diversify exports away from the West.

Moscow Times