Distribution of oil refining resources in Russia in the context of the capacity development of refiners and regions

Abstract

The oil production and refining processes are directly dependent on historical and political processes. The world wars of the 20th century were catalysts for the transformation of oil as the main energy resource. The capacity of enterprises in the oil refining industry is important for the development of politics and economies of states because oil products are one of the most sought after goods. Addressing the problem of capacity development for oil resource processing at Russian refineries is a relevant topic to build an effective policy for the distribution of global oil resources. The purpose of this paper is to identify the distribution trends in oil resource refining capacities in Russia. The developed method allows us to determine the dynamics of refining capacities in all regions of the country, establish the contributions of refinery groups to regional and countrywide capacities, and identify trends in the capacity concentrations of refineries and regions. The timeline that was used for the research period is 2009–2019. The results of the study showed increases in processing capacity in all federal districts. By 2019, the Volga Federal District provided the largest annual contribution to the countrywide capacity. The Southern Federal District moved up from the fourth to second position. It was followed by the Siberian, Central, Northwestern, Far Eastern, and Ural Federal Districts. The trends in the distribution capacities across the country indicate the prospect for building additional refineries in the Asian part of Russia. Rosneft was the leader, while Gazprom retained the second position. Independent refiners took the third position in terms of total refinery capacity, with Lukoil in the fourth position. Furthermore, Surgut-NG, Tatneft, Mini refineries, and NOVATEK followed the top four positions. The changes in concentration ratios indicated the increased monopolization of the refinery market. A decisive contribution to this process was due to by Rosneft’s takeover of TNK-BP and Bashneft’s capacities. The changes in regional concentrations were influenced by the changes in processing capacities of the Volga Federal District.