25-01-05 Oil fields in eastern Siberia and the Far East will need investments of $ 20 bn in the next 45 years to produce enough oil to fill a pipeline to the Pacific coast, the Natural Resources Ministry said.
Proven, probable and possible reserves must be increased by 2.98 mm tons to ensure stable output of 50 mm tpy of oil through 2050, the ministry said. Current exploratory work has yielded reserves sufficient for output of 30 mm to 35 mm tpy of oil and worth $ 15 bn, it said.

Russia, the world's largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, produces most of its oil at aging fields in western Siberia for sale in Europe. Oil companies want to tap rapidly developing markets in China, Korea and Japan by developing eastern Siberian oil fields and building a pipeline to the east.
A plan for exploring and licensing the fields will be ready by May, Sergei Fyodorov, head of the ministry's policy and regulation department. The energy and economy ministries have been working with the Natural Resources Ministry.

The government will publish in the near future a list of eastern Siberian fields to be sold, Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said. The government plans to sell licenses to 40 fields in 2005 and is preparing a list of another 30 fields for sale in a subsequent stage, said Alexei Ledovskikh, head of the Federal Subsoil Resource Use Agency.
Foreign companies may form groups to bid for the licenses, Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said. The licenses should set strict time limits for producing first oil at the fields, he said.

Transneft, the state-owned pipeline monopoly, plans to build a pipeline from eastern Siberia to the Sea of Japan by 2008 with capacity of as much as 80 mm tpy (1.6 mm bpd) at a cost of about $ 11 bn. The company is considering a branch to Daqing, China, which could raise costs to $ 15.5 bn.
The pipeline will run from the town of Taishet in eastern Siberia through Skovorodino, passing within about 60 km of the Chinese border, to the port of Nakhodka. Transneft has until May to present a feasibility study for the pipeline.