Industry-wide coordination of petroleum engineering

Abstract

The Russian petroleum industry, like the whole Russian economy, is in a state of deep crisis. Over the last four years, petroleum production has dropped more than 40%, and the number of idle wells has increased. Capital expenditures for maintaining the petroleum equipment base, including well repair and replacing or restoring worn parts, have more than halved (in constant rubles) and are insufficient to maintain production. A quarter of the available petroleum equipment is almost inoperable; half is worn by more than 50% and soon will have to be written off. This state of the petroleum industry is not due to the technical level of petroleum equipment manufacture. In the former USSR domestic manufacture accounted for 97% of the oil and gas equipment base. Only unique equipment was imported from developed countries, and also from Romania as required within the framework of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON). The geographic distribution of petroleum equipment production in the former USSR did not turn out favorable for Russia, which produced 90% of the petroleum but only 56% of the equipment. Azerbaijan produced 37% of this equipment, and the Ukraine produced the rest. The status of the Russian petroleum industry is discussed.