Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, on a visit to the town of Igarka in Krasnoyarsk Territory, boasted that the region will eventually provide more than 115 million tons/year of "additional oil and condensate" on reaching its estimated capacity.
"We ourselves find it hard to imagine the riches that fill our country," said Putin at the launch of the Vankor oil field, adding that "It is possible and necessary to develop the resources that we have for hundreds of years."
He said on national television that Vankor is "the first, and therefore a highly significant step in implementation of the large-scale, strategic project for the integrated development of hydrocarbon deposits in the north of Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area."
"In the coming years, a whole new Russian oil and gas region should appear here. Hundreds of kilometers of gas and oil pipelines will be laid," Putin said. "Roads and power stations will be built, literally from scratch. Dozens of fields will be developed," he said.
"According to specialists' calculations, this region will provide over 115 million tons of additional oil and condensate each year when it reaches its estimated capacity," Putin said. "Of course, this will significantly strengthen the raw material base of the Russian economy and our export potential."
Production in the oil and gas region should reach full capacity in around 10 years, said Putin, who also spoke about measures planned to improve infrastructure in the region.
"The government has taken a decision about integrated development of this, essentially new, oil and gas region," said Putin, who proposed a partnership between the government and private oil companies.
"In our view, this approach will make it possible to consolidate the efforts of the state and resource-extracting companies and to significantly reduce costs," he said.
Putin said such a partnership would also "create a common transport network, energy supply system and social provisions much more effectively, quickly and—the most important thing—cheaply, than if each company built such infrastructure individually, just for itself."
Public-private partnerships should be used in the development process, said Putin, who said that "top-notch development of infrastructure needs to be ensured for the development of these new fields."
Putin said, "We are talking about the construction and modernization of roads, pipelines, and power stations. It would be expedient to widely use the possibilities of state-private partnerships for this."
Putin, who said that infrastructure bonds should be issued to help finance the projects, also suggested that a zero rate of tax on the extraction of subsoil resources could be extended to oil deposits in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area.
"A subsidized, 'zero' rate of the subsoil resources extraction tax is already in effect for a whole series of oil deposits," he said, adding that "this norm should be extended to the whole territory of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area."
Putin also urged the swift introduction of a zero rate of customs duty on oil exported from eastern Siberia.
"A fundamental decision has been taken regarding a 'zero' customs duty on the export of oil extracted from certain oil deposits in eastern Siberia," he said, adding, "Vankor is on this list."
At the launch, Putin said that fields in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area and the north of Krasnoyarsk Territory contain 67% of Russia's natural gas, 15% of its oil, and 60% of its gas condensate.
"What's more, geological exploration work here is far from complete and it promises new discoveries," he said, adding, "The degree of resource exploration is 20% for oil, 35% for gas, and just 17% for condensate."
