09-11-04
Russia will start to reduce oil exports in two years as oil production levels
in the country stabilize and fall, said Yury Shafranik, head of the Oil and Gas
Industrialists' Union (Soyuzneftegaz).
"Oil production has almost peaked, and further growth is only possible if
price trends are good, so exports will be automatically restricted in two years
from now," Shafranik, a former energy minister, told.
He said the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast Russia would sustain
oil production growth for another two or three years, then production would
level off and start to decline.
"Only direct investments can alter that situation," Shafranik said.
But the IEA underestimates that fact that Russia has unexplored fields which
could fuel production growth for three to four years, he said.
Source: Interfax Information Services