The Barents Sea - the ice-filled Arctic sea north of Norway and northwest Russia - is estimated to hold more than 40 billion barrels of oil equivalent

Most estimates [Granberg et al., 1993; Malovitski et al., 1994] suggest that promising oil- and gas-bearing areas are found on about 90% of all Russian shelves. They cover 5.2-6.2 million square kilometers. Potential recoverable hydrocarbon resources of the Russian continental shelves are estimated within 90 to 100 billion tons of oil equivalent. Natural gas resources account for 80% of them.

Practically everywhere on the Russian shelf, the affinity between the offshore petroleum-bearing provinces and corresponding geological structures of the adjoining inland areas is found. Global experience indicates that in such cases, the oil and gas potential of the shelf fields is higher than that of the onshore accumulations.

Analysts estimate that the Arctic region holds a quarter of the world's oil and gas reserves. The Snohvit field has made Statoil the technological vanguard in the Barents Sea.

Russian oil exports to grow by 220,000 bpd in 2005

Russia will increase its average daily oil exports by 220,000 barrels in 2005 compared to 2004, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told journalists following the first day of a meeting between the Group of Twenty finance ministers in China's Xianghe on October 15. Russia is pursuing a number of projects to increase oil production, the minister said. "This includes the beginning of the development of the Sakhalin-1 project, 80 percent of the operators of which are foreign," he said. Thanks to this project alone, Russia's daily oil production will increase by 240,000 barrels by the end of 2006, Kudrin said. At the present time, this project accounts for an increase in daily oil production by 45,000 barrels, he said. In addition, investments in oil production in Russia grew by about 34 percent in the first seven months of 2005, Kudrin said. "This is a very significant growth in investments," he said. In 2006, Russia will more than double state investments in geological prospecting, he said. According to the finance ministry information, Russia expects to produce about 474 million tonnes of oil in 2005, or 9.5 million barrels a day, which is 3.3 percent more than in 2004.

http://sydneypeakoil.com/downloads/PR_OCT2005_Megaprojects.pdf

Russian oil output could peak  in 2010 at 10.2 million barrels per day (bpd)
Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:19 PM ET
http://tinyurl.com/7wgwa         

(Adds details)

By Chris Baltimore

WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Russian oil output could peak at more than 510 million tonnes annually in 2010, or 10.2 million barrels per day (bpd), Russian Energy Minister Victor Khristenko said on Monday.

"It will reach a certain plateau of production within the time frame of 2010," Khristenko told reporters. That plateau would be about 510 to 520 million tonnes a year, he said, or the equivalent of about 10.2 to 10.4 million bpd.

In September, Russia produced 9.53 million bpd, which was a post-Soviet high, according to Energy Ministry data.

Khristenko said Russia aims to achieve annual output of 500 million tonnes by 2008-09.

On his first U.S. trip as energy minister, Khristenko met with President George W. Bush and senior administration officials including U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

Analysts say that Russia's growth will continue for a few more months as oil firms ramp up production, including Exxon Mobil Corp.'s massive Sakhalin project.

Russia's oil production has stagnated since growing 9 percent in 2004 and a record 11 percent in 2003.

Russia is chasing Saudi Arabia's title as the world's top crude oil producer. Saudi Arabia pumped 9.6 million bpd of crude oil in September, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

But unlike the Middle East's oil giant, which chooses not to pump at full capacity, Russia is keen to see production hit record highs. Saudi Arabia has surplus capacity of up to 1.4 million bpd, according to the EIA.