The new energy supply strategy must be formed taking into account the needs of developing countries. At the same time, Russia retains its role as one of the leaders in global energy and continues to strengthen its position in the global energy market, although the oil industry faces certain challenges. For example, necessary conditions for the continued export of Russian oil are trade in national currencies and the development of alternative payment systems. Igor Sechin, Chief Executive Officer of Rosneft PJSC, revealed these theses in detail during his report during the Energy Panel at the XXVII SPIEF.
The Arctic. Photo: frame from video.
He again emphasized that the concept of the “green transition” is untenable. is already obvious. Therefore, Russia and its partners will have to develop a new strategy for reliable and safe energy supply at fair prices, taking into account the needs of developing countries.
“We have no doubts about the ability of the Russian energy complex to provide the necessary volume of energy resources for domestic Russian consumers, and nothing will prevent us from fulfilling our contractual obligations to all our partners,” – said the head of Rosneft.
He added that Russia, despite the increasing pressure from sanctions, retains its role as one of the leaders in the global energy sector. Not long ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized the importance of reorienting Russian exports to the fast-growing markets of the Asia-Pacific region.
“At the moment, the Asia-Pacific region accounts for more than 80% of Russian oil exports, and it is already obvious that the reorientation of supplies has fully justified itself,” – the speaker noted.
Separately, he noted the development of the Northern Sea Route project – a new transport artery that will connect the powerful resource base of the Russian North with the markets of developing countries. Thanks to this project, energy consumers in Asia will have access to the resources of the Arctic shelf and Siberia. Today, the Arctic produces 10% of the world's oil and 25% of natural gas. At the same time, 80% of all Arctic oil and gas reserves in the world are concentrated in the Russian Arctic.
In general, the Russian oil industry is self-sufficient in terms of its resource base, technology, and is capable of solving the problems it faces.
But there are also “weak” spots, such as voluntary production restrictions under the OPEC+ Agreement, as well as growing sanctions pressure, including the price ceiling for Russian oil set by Western countries, the ban on using the Western financial system, and logistical barriers.
Internal factors also influence the work of the Russian oil industry. Among them is the high tax burden.
Sechin also drew attention to prohibitive interest rates and the limited amount of available liquidity in the financial market. Despite the record 103 trillion rubles of liquidity located within the perimeter of the Russian banking system, the industry is virtually deprived of the opportunity to attract financing.
As for the development of exports, significant progress has already been made in this direction: over the past two years, the share of the ruble in payments for exports has more than tripled and exceeded 40%. The role of friendly currencies in global trade is also growing. For example, China's recent successes in using the yuan illustrate dedollarization well. Last September, the yuan overtook the euro in trade settlements via SWIFT for the first time. The dynamics of Russian-Chinese mutual settlements are also indicative.
«Significant mutual trade flows, as well as trade flows of third countries, allowed our countries to quickly switch to settlements in national currencies, the share of which at the end of 2023 exceeded 90%» , – Sechin said.
According to the speaker, to further expand the use of national currencies both on a bilateral basis and in settlements with third countries, it is necessary to create appropriate infrastructure and tools to ensure clearing operations and the opening of correspondent accounts, and the use of swaps -lines, as well as the entire range of systems for exchanging interbank messages.