Russian firms spend 300 bln rbl on hydrocarbon exploration Jan–Nov

MOSCOW, Dec 27 (PRIME) -- The combined spending on geological exploration of hydrocarbons by Russian companies exceeded 300 billion rubles in January–November, Yevgeny Petrov, head of the Federal Mineral Resources Agency, said in a news briefing on Wednesday.

“I will share the figures for the first 11 months because we are now assessing data for December. I can say that the general trend shows some growth … In 2023, spending on hydrocarbon resources exceeded 300 billion rubles,” he said.

Spending on exploratory drilling accounted for almost 70% of the sum, which is great from the point of view of a further expansion of the resource base, he said.

Speaking of the other mineral resources, he said that the companies that develop the Kovykta and Polmostundrovskoye lithium deposits to start pilot production of lithium in 2024.

“We had two large lithium auctions at the beginning of this year – the Polmostundrovskoye and Kovykta deposits. Geological exploration is going on very dynamically there, we are almost at the maximum of our capabilities there to catch up with the capabilities of the companies that are doing work there right now. They are very focused to the point that they plan to switch to pilot production next year,” Petrov said.

He also said that the agency has no plans to put up the Nurminskaya group of oil and natural gas deposits located in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District for auction for now. The starting payment for the group at the auction will amount to 30 billion rubles, and Russian companies are not eager to buy these large fields right now being focused on acquisition of small and medium-sized deposits located in the regions with developed infrastructure, he said.

(91.7069 rubles – U.S. $1)

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