Russian Arctic’s Oil, Gas Production Possibilities 'Colossal' – Prime Minister

The Russian territory of the Arctic has vast prospective for oil and gas production, and geological exploration should be carried out for discovering new deposits, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday.

GORKI (Sputnik) — Russia, alongside Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States, is a member of the Arctic Council, created in 1996 at Finland's initiative for cooperation and resolving issues of the Arctic region.

"There are indeed vast amounts of reserves of our hydrocarbon resources, we need to exploit all this in any case," Medvedev said during a meeting with the President of the Russian private oil company LUKoil Vagit Alekperov.

LUKoil’s head, in turn, noted that the company paid much attention to the exploration activities.

Medvedev characterized geological exploration as a costly but necessary activity, without which it would be impossible to discover new deposits of resources and start the production of hydrocarbon.

"I will point out once again – our country’s Arctic region has colossal capabilities, reserves and prospects," the prime minister added.

In October 2016, LUKoil launched the Pyakyakhinskoye oil and gas condensate field in Russia’s northern Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area, with 36 oil wells producing 3,000 tonnes (20,000 barrels) of oil daily.