Vladimir Khomutko
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How many years have they been producing oil in Chechnya?
Oil has been extracted in Chechnya for more than a hundred years.
At the beginning of the last century, its extraction, preliminary processing and further transportation were carried out by many foreign companies, including the world-famous Standard Oil and Shell.
The main owner of the Chechen oil fields was Terskoye Cossack army. It received income from them in the form of rent received from oil developers.
With coming Soviet power all mineral resources were declared state property. During Soviet oil production, a fairly serious infrastructure was built here, which included oil refining enterprises.
The maximum volume of “black gold” mined in this region occurred in 1971 and amounted to 21.6 million tons, but then the rate of production began to decline steadily. In the early 90s of the last century, the explored Chechen deposits were already depleted by 60 percent, and practically no exploration of new ones was carried out.
Chechnya and oil
According to experts, during its existence Soviet Union More than 400 million tons of “black gold” were mined here. For a long period of time, the Grozny oil-producing region was the second most important in the country (after Baku), and Chechen oil brought significant revenues to the USSR treasury.
With the proclamation of Ichkeria, all mineral resources were declared people's property, but the income local population it had no effect.
The main reasons were:
- the general decline of the republican mining industry;
- failure of most wells (oil was obtained only from gushing ones);
- loss of productivity of existing flowing wells due to their intensive operation;
- collapse of local oil refining.
In 1998, the total volume of Chechen oil production amounted to only 849 thousand tons. In 2000, by decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1320 and in accordance with the decision of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of the Russian Federation, the state corporation Rosneft took over oil production in Chechnya.
Currently, its subsidiary Grozneftegaz operates on the territory of the republic, 51 percent of the shares of which are owned by Rosneft, and 49 percent is owned by the Government of the Chechen Republic. Grozneftegaz received all licenses for the Chechen fields, as well as the remaining production assets.
This company began to quickly increase oil production volumes, and in three years managed to increase it to 1 million 800 thousand tons of “black gold”.
Currently, the Government of this Russian region and the Rosneft corporation are conducting complex and lengthy negotiations, the purpose of which is to increase the role of the local Government in the management of the Grozneftegaz company, as well as to invest revenues received from Chechen oil in the development of the republic itself.
The plans of the Rosneft company to build a large oil refinery in the Tersky region of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, leaked to the media, as expected, caused a very painful reaction in the Chechen Republic.
For many years (at least since the end of the military stage of the anti-terrorist campaign), the Chechen authorities have been unsuccessfully seeking the construction on their territory of at least a small enterprise for processing (even if not all) the oil produced here - and Rosneft, which has a monopoly on Chechen oil, is going to process it next door! And in what volumes - 2 million tons of oil per year, that is, everything that is produced in the Chechen Republic.
In general terms the situation is as follows: for last year The cost of Chechen oil sold by Rosneft amounted to approximately 20 billion rubles, and 420 million rubles - or a little more than two percent - went to the revenue side of the republican budget of Chechnya. Here, as they say, any comments are unnecessary.
By the way, the Chechen authorities have never tried to seriously challenge Rosneft’s monopoly position. More often than not, all their efforts were aimed at ensuring that everyone possible ways: first, create in Chechnya maximum amount jobs in the oil industry; secondly, to increase its share of income through the development of deep oil refining in the republic. The only concession that Rosneft made was the creation of OJSC Grozneftegaz in 2001 as one of its subsidiaries, but without this, it would have been extremely difficult for Rosneft itself to resume industrial oil production and transportation in Chechnya.
In general, over the past two decades there have been so many contradictory opinions and outright speculation surrounding the oil industry in Chechnya that there is a need to briefly understand the history of the issue.
Oil has been extracted in Chechnya for more than a hundred years, and at the beginning of the 20th century, several dozen companies, including international cartels such as Shell and Standard Oil, were involved in its extraction, partial on-site processing and transportation. The main owner of the oil-bearing areas was the Terek Cossack Army, which received income simply by leasing them to oil industrialists. Some Chechen villages, for example Aldy, owned relatively small oil-bearing areas, on whose lands New fields arose.
As a result, more than twenty years of exploitation of Chechen oil fields under the tsarist regime brought almost no benefit to the Chechen people. Only certain entrepreneurs, for example, Tapa Chermoev, got rich from speculation in oil-bearing areas. Moreover, the residents of Aldov received income by renting out the lands they owned.
Under Soviet rule, the sole owner of the subsoil was the state, which produced and processed oil for more than 70 years. During this time, the oil production industry of Chechnya has gone through several stages in its development. The maximum level of oil production was reached in 1971 - 21.6 million tons, after which a sharp decline in production began.
By the beginning of the 90s the main problem industry was the absence of new explored fields, and already proven oil and gas reserves were depleted by approximately 60 percent.
According to various estimates, over 400 million tons of oil were produced in Chechnya during the years of Soviet power. What benefits has the republic gained over these years?
No one will give the exact numbers, but here’s what’s interesting. For a long time The Grozny oil-producing region was the second most important in the USSR after Baku, and the budget of the Chechen Autonomous Region, and then Checheno-Ingushetia, remained subsidized throughout the entire period of Soviet power. Paradox. A beggar on a golden throne is the most precise definition the situation in which Chechnya finds itself.
Why did this happen?
Yes, because the state took the oil and gave subsidies in return. Moreover, the size of these subsidies was determined in Moscow.
Thus, in the 20s of the last century, the Grozneft association transferred to the budget of the Chechen Autonomous Region a certain percentage from oil produced in Chechnya. Since the share of PrJSC was determined in Moscow, it should not be surprising that in some years the budget of Grozneft was several times higher than the budget of the autonomy whose mineral resources it exploited.
However, this was not the case only with oil. The Union Center took in the form of taxes most of all the income that Chechnya received. Some of these funds were then returned in the form of subsidies to the republican budget, some - in the form of capital investments in the development of Grozny industry, city and republican infrastructure, and so on. But the essence of this system, which consists in taking as much as possible from the regions possible part income, to firmly put their budgets on the subsidized needle - remained unchanged. And this system can hardly be called anything other than a system of economic robbery of the regions.
During the Republic of Ichkeria, the mineral wealth was declared the property of the people of the Chechen Republic, but the income of ordinary citizens did not increase from this.
First, the industry itself was rapidly declining. Since 1991, there has been a rapid decline in oil production as most of wells failed. Eventually, oil began to be produced only from flowing wells. However, predatory exploitation led to their loss of productivity. Thus, in 1998, only 849 thousand tons of oil were produced in Chechnya. At the same time, the republican oil refining industry collapsed and dismantling of factories that had been idle for years began.
Secondly, and this is the main thing, the plunder of oil resources was now carried out within the republic, of course, with the participation of Russian and other external partners. Fabulous incomes flowed into the pockets of individuals, bypassing the republican budget. Ultimately, in the second half of the 90s, all operating wells came under the control of private individuals or individual armed groups.
In 2000, in accordance with government decree No. 1320 of December 1999 and the decision of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of the Russian Federation, Rosneft came to Chechnya. She was involved as a customer for the work until the government plenipotentiary representative in the Chechen Republic, Nikolai Koshman, decided to create his own oil company, Grozneft, in the republic. But already in November 2001, Rosneft returned - an open oil company was created to organize oil production in Chechnya. Joint-Stock Company"Grozneftegaz", the controlling stake of which (51 percent) is owned by the state oil company Rosneft. The second co-owner of OJSC Grozneftegaz - the Government of the Chechen Republic - owns 49 percent of the shares. Grozneftegaz was given licenses for field development and production assets remaining from pre-war times.
The newly created company begins to quickly increase its level of oil production. So, if in 2001 only 700 thousand tons of oil were produced; then already in 2003 - almost 1,800 thousand tons. At the same time, initially all the oil produced in Chechnya was exported, and the destroyed republic received royalties for this. In addition, Rosneft transferred to the republican budget the cost of so-called operator services related to oil production and transportation. However, for example, in 2003, the price of operator services decreased by almost half. As a result, according to the Minister of Finance of the Chechen Republic Eli Isaev, in 2003 and 2004 the republican budget received only 350 million rubles from Rosneft, but it received less in the form of income tax and other deductions - 1 billion 800 million rubles.
By the way, it significantly reduced the tax base and the unresolved property disputes. Since a significant part of the property with which the company operates is not formally its property, the company accordingly cannot deduct income taxes in proportion to the value of this property. According to the company's management, for this reason alone, the budget of the Chechen Republic, for example, in 2003 alone received 300 million rubles less in the form of income tax.
What is the significance of almost two billion rubles lost in taxes for the Chechen Republic? For comparison, we point out that the entire republican budget for 2003 amounted to 9 billion 526 million rubles, and the actual own income at the same time they were equal to only 1 billion 82 million rubles. That is, they were 11 million rubles less than the officially announced income of OJSC Grozneftegaz for 2002.
The author of this article simply does not know what income Rosneft received from the export of oil produced in the Chechen Republic. But, given the crazy world prices for hydrocarbon raw materials - for sure we're talking about about substantial sums.
Thus, we see two things at once.
Firstly, the decline in revenues from oil production is hitting the budget of the Chechen Republic painfully. Thus, in the first half of 2004, only due to the fact that Rosneft lowered the prices for operator services for oil production, the budget of the Chechen Republic lost approximately 230–240 million rubles. As a result, in the first 6 months of 2004, the consolidated budget of the republic received only 121 million 805 thousand rubles in the form of a tax on the extraction of mineral resources (practically only oil), which amounted to 16 percent of all tax revenues.
This is probably funny, but in an oil-producing republic, while world oil prices are breaking all imaginable records, the main item in the republican budget is income tax, collected mainly in the public sector. This circumstance alone does not contribute in any way economic growth Chechen Republic.
Secondly, a system has actually been recreated in which the main income from oil produced in Chechnya again goes past the budget of the Chechen Republic. To justify its existence, there were a variety of arguments, including statements that the republic was not able to independently produce and sell oil.
This is very reminiscent of the situation in which the giant Shrek found himself, from the very popular cartoon of the same name. Let me explain my point. By order of a powerful lord, all fairy-tale creatures have been driven to the swamp owned by Shrek. The lord agrees to return the swamp to its rightful owner only if Shrek gets him a princess guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. Simply put, the lord solved his problem at someone else’s expense.
What is happening in the case of “Chechen oil”.
psvl writes
Energy myth No. 7. The war in Chechnya was over oil resources.
The topic is often raised that Chechnya was not granted independence solely because they did not want to lose the oil resources available there. Moreover, as a rule, it is not the Chechens themselves who talk about this, but the category that we affectionately call fairly decent.
In this regard, it would be nice to clarify what oil is now in Chechnya.
Along with Azerbaijan, Chechnya is one of the oldest oil provinces former USSR. Industrial oil production in Chechnya began in 1893. Cumulative production since the beginning of the development of Chechen fields has exceeded 420 million tons.
Before the start of the Second World War, oil production in Chechnya amounted to 4 million tons, but during the hostilities the oil infrastructure was completely destroyed. After the war, production was restored and from the late 50s, with the discovery of new highly productive deposits, it grew steadily, and reached a maximum of 21.3 million tons in 1971.
Then, as the deposits were developed, it decreased by 1980 to 7 million tons, and by 1990 - to 4 million tons - i.e. actually up to the level of the early 40s. At the same time, the degree of exploration of reserves in the republic was 80%, proven reserves - 50 million tons, probable reserves - 100 million tons.
A powerful oil refining industry was created in Chechnya. In Grozny, there were 3 refineries with a total capacity of 19 million tons (the Sheripov plant, Groznensky, and Novogroznensky named after Anisimov), which produced up to 6% of gasoline and up to 90% of aviation oils from total volume production in the USSR. The Grozny chemical plant was built (the main product is polyethylene high pressure), in addition, the largest polyethylene producer in the USSR was supplied with straight-run gasoline from the Grozny group of refineries via a pipeline low pressure– Budyonnovsk PA “Stavropolpolymer”, one of the most important industrial enterprises Stavropol region. One of the key institutes in the field of oil refining and petrochemistry, the GrozNII, worked there, where, for example, Soviet catalytic cracking technologies were created.
In addition, Grozny was an important oil transportation hub, where flows of local, West Siberian, Tengiz (Kazakhstan) and Azerbaijani oils were combined,
with subsequent pumping to Tuapse and Novorossiysk (via Tikhoretsk). The volume of oil pumped in 1990 amounted to 58 million tons.
Until 1994, the production indicators of the Chechen oil complex (united in the State Unitary Enterprise "UNKO") were steadily declining (refining fell threefold), the sales of oil and petroleum products were completely criminalized. After the events well known to everyone began, oil production fell sharply to less than 1 million tons, refining was stopped due to the cessation of supplies from Western Siberia, periodic attempts to resume pumping along the Baku-Tikhoretsk route were not successful due to the disappearance of volumes along the way for obvious reasons. Got wide use extraction and processing of oil using artisanal methods, about which there is generally enough information in various sources. In 1997, UNCO was disbanded by decree of A. Maskhadov.
By now transport infrastructure Chechnya is unclaimed. Flows of West Siberian oil are pumped to Tikhoretsk via other Transneft oil pipelines, Tengiz oil is transported through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium system (Tengiz-Novorossiysk), volumes of SOCAR (State Oil Company Azerbaijan Republic) - along a pipeline constructed by Transneft bypassing Chechnya. AIOC (Azerbaijan International Operating Company working on the ACG project - Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field) after the commissioning of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline has a double supply of transportation capacity.
Due to the fall in domestic demand for petroleum products, already in the mid-90s, oil refining capacities, which are now almost completely destroyed, became unclaimed. Security North Caucasus petroleum products are supplied mainly from the resources of the Volgograd Refinery (which, by the way, was one of the main suppliers of fuel to the federal forces during the war), as well as the Samara Group, Krasnodar plants and the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant. The issue of building a small oil refinery with a capacity of 1 million tons in Grozny is currently being considered.
The Grozny chemical plant cannot be restored.
On the main topic of this note. Oil production from Grozneftegaz, whose controlling stake belongs to Rosneft, is currently about 2 million tons per year, that is, less than 0.5% of the total Russian production and no increase is predicted. Oil sales in 2005 amounted to $720 million. Based on the average tax burden on oil companies, the Russian budget received about $350 million from this amount. Financing of Chechnya from the federal budget amounts to $1 billion annually. That is, all the talk that Russia is clinging to Chechen oil, and this is the main source of the problem, is unfounded. Naturally, within a limited group of people, this serious business, however, even in the most extreme case, such issues are resolved by shooting at narrow circle, and not wars.
printed
In light of the recent PR campaign of Kadyrov's horde, some reports have appeared that the Bantustans are "d.i.ch." (Dagestan, Ingushetia, Chechnya = Czech Republic) the colonies of the Russian Federation are actually not a burden, but simply a heavenly place created by a local genius wise leadership. In light of this, based on the LJ discussion, it was created.
Brief summary. Only official total gratuitous receipts, grants and subsidies to Chechnya in Lately amount to about 80 billion rubles per year. The cost of Chechen oil produced by Rosneft at the current production rate is about 25-30 billion rubles per year. This does not take into account the cost of production. Oil pipelines and refineries of the Czech Republic are of secondary importance for the Russian Federation. Thus: 1) Bantustan CR is financed by more than 2/3 from the budget of the Russian colony and does not contain strategic economic objects; 2) Bantustan CR has some oil potential for separation and independent life.
Oil production in Chechnya
Tax and non-tax revenues of Chechnya
How much does, say, Bantustan Chechnya earn on its own, excluding oil? Again, the answer is given by the official website of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation: 2009 - 5,153.27 million rubles, 2010 - 7,300.76 million rubles. Those. funny 5-7 billion
Budget feeding Chechnya
According to the Chechen side (,), only gratuitous transfers from the federal budget amounted to 58.4 billion rubles in 2009, in 2011 it is predicted 51943366.7 thousand rubles, i.e. 50-60 billion per year. More complete information on regional budgets can be obtained from the website of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (you need to look for December):
Table for 2009:
| Subjects of the Russian Federation | Free receipts from other budgets budget system Russian Federation, million rubles | Subsidies to regional budgets Russian Federation million rubles | Subsidies to regional budgets Russian Federation And municipalities (interbudgetary subsidies), million rubles |
| The Republic of Dagestan | 46 469,38 | 31 376,91 | 10 022,82 |
| The Republic of Ingushetia | 10 698,99 | 7 131,69 | 1 812,80 |
| 11 589,61 | 7 714,86 | 2 606,32 | |
| 7 883,34 | 4 959,38 | 1 939,92 | |
| 9 893,41 | 5 408,24 | 2 835,82 | |
| Chechen Republic | 56 558,75 | 29 346,88 | 18 156,02 |
Table for 2010:
| Subjects of the Russian Federation | Free receipts from other budgets budget system Russian Federation, million rubles | Subsidies to regional budgets Russian Federation and municipalities, million rubles | Subsidies to regional budgets Russian Federation and municipalities (interbudgetary subsidies), million rubles |
| The Republic of Dagestan | 40 638,37 | 28 284,30 | 7 585,23 |
| The Republic of Ingushetia | 11 586,42 | 6 980,89 | 2 646,98 |
| Kabardino-Balkarian Republic | 10 354,28 | 6 718,32 | 2 077,50 |
| Karachay-Cherkess Republic | 7 900,06 | 3 896,49 | 1 525,15 |
| Republic of North Ossetia-Alania | 8 503,20 | 4 756,11 | 2 222,75 |
| Chechen Republic | 52 682,95 | 28 488,55 | 15 819,55 |
Comparing with the table of oil revenues, we find that oil covers only a third of what is officially listed above. About the potential of Chechen oil and war The topic is often raised that Chechnya was not granted independence solely because they did not want to lose the oil resources available there. Moreover, as a rule, it is not the Chechens themselves who talk about this, but the category that we affectionately call fairly decent. In this regard, it would be nice to clarify what oil is now in Chechnya.
Along with Azerbaijan, Chechnya is one of the oldest oil provinces of the former USSR. Industrial oil production in Chechnya began in 1893. Cumulative production since the beginning of the development of Chechen fields has exceeded 420 million tons.
Before the start of the Second World War, oil production in Chechnya amounted to 4 million tons, but during the hostilities the oil infrastructure was completely destroyed. After the war, production was restored and from the late 50s, with the discovery of new highly productive deposits, it grew steadily, and reached a maximum of 21.3 million tons in 1971.
Then, as the deposits were developed, it decreased by 1980 to 7 million tons, and by 1990 - to 4 million tons - i.e. actually up to the level of the early 40s. At the same time, the degree of exploration of reserves in the republic was 80%, proven reserves - 50 million tons, probable reserves - 100 million tons.
A powerful oil refining industry was created in Chechnya. In Grozny, there were 3 refineries with a total capacity of 19 million tons (the Sheripov plant, Groznensky, and Novogroznensky named after Anisimov), which produced up to 6% of gasoline and up to 90% of aviation oils from the total production volume in the USSR. The Grozny chemical plant was built (the main product is high-density polyethylene), in addition, the largest producer of low-density polyethylene in the USSR, the Budennovsky Production Association Stavropolpolymer, one of the most important industrial enterprises in the Stavropol Territory, was supplied with straight-run gasoline from the Grozny group of refineries through a pipeline. One of the key institutes in the field of oil refining and petrochemistry, the GrozNII, worked there, where, for example, Soviet catalytic cracking technologies were created.
In addition, Grozny was an important oil transportation hub, where flows of local, West Siberian, Tengiz (Kazakhstan) and Azerbaijani oil were combined, with subsequent pumping to Tuapse and Novorossiysk (via Tikhoretsk). The volume of oil pumped in 1990 amounted to 58 million tons.
Until 1994, the production indicators of the Chechen oil complex (united in the State Unitary Enterprise "UNKO") were steadily declining (refining fell threefold), the sales of oil and petroleum products were completely criminalized. After the events well known to everyone began, oil production fell sharply to less than 1 million tons, refining was stopped due to the cessation of supplies from Western Siberia, periodic attempts to resume pumping along the Baku-Tikhoretsk route were not successful due to the disappearance of volumes en route for obvious reasons. The extraction and processing of oil using artisanal methods has become widespread, about which there is generally enough information in various sources. In 1997, UNCO was disbanded by decree of A. Maskhadov.
To date, the transport infrastructure of Chechnya is unclaimed. Flows of West Siberian oil are pumped to Tikhoretsk through other Transneft oil pipelines, Tengiz oil - through the system of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (Tengiz-Novorossiysk), volumes of SOCAR (State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic) - through a pipeline constructed by Transneft, bypassing Chechnya. AIOC (Azerbaijan International Operating Company working on the ACG project - Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field) after the commissioning of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline has a double supply of transportation capacity.
Due to the fall in domestic demand for petroleum products, already in the mid-90s, oil refining capacities, which are now almost completely destroyed, became unclaimed. The North Caucasus is supplied with petroleum products mainly from the resources of the Volgograd Refinery (which, by the way, was one of the main suppliers of fuel to the federal forces during the war), as well as the Samara Group, Krasnodar plants and the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant. The issue of building a small oil refinery with a capacity of 1 million tons in Grozny is currently being considered.
The Grozny chemical plant cannot be restored.
On the main topic of this note. Oil production from Grozneftegaz, whose controlling stake belongs to Rosneft, is currently about 2 million tons per year, that is, less than 0.5% of the total Russian production and no increase is predicted. Oil sales in 2005 amounted to $720 million. Based on the average tax burden on oil companies, the Russian budget received about $350 million from this amount. Financing of Chechnya from the federal budget amounts to $1 billion annually. That is, all the talk that Russia is clinging to Chechen oil, and this is the main source of the problem, is unfounded. Naturally, within a limited group of people, this is a serious business, but even in the most extreme case, such issues are resolved by shooting in a narrow circle, and not by war.
Sources:
[ 1 ]
. Magazine " International information oil industry", # 1, 1995 " Chechen Republic: oil perspective.”via
[ 2 ]
. V. Pavlov - “Oil tragedy of Chechnya.”
[ 3 ]
. Alexander Yakuba, Rosbalt news agency “Ramzan wants oil...”
[ 4 ]. Own information
Addition according to the version of the connection between the war and Caspian oil.
From time to time, opinions appeared in the press that the war in Chechnya was connected with Caspian oil (primarily Azerbaijani oil), which at one time was declared almost the second Persian Gulf, the choice of its transportation route and lobbying for the Baku-Ceyhan project. However, it’s real current project now - ACG, these deposits were discovered by Soviet geologists. Although the production volume there is not small - more than 23 million tons per year, it is far from the Persian Gulf. Baku-Ceyhan is, first of all, a political project, designed to direct the flow of hydrocarbons bypassing the territory of Russia, and, most likely, would have been built regardless of the situation in Chechnya. This is a personal opinion.
via 3 According to Rosneft, Grozneftegaz produced 1.5 million tons of oil in 2009, or 13.6% of what was produced in 2009 in the Southern Federal District. Approximately 11 million barrels. Rosneft uses the Petroleum Resources Management System, according to which all reserves are divided into proven (90% chance of being produced), probable (50% chance of being produced) and possible (10% chance of being produced). Taking this into account, we get 97 million barrels. Thus, it is clear that even taking into account the drop in oil production and the reduction in the number of operating wells, there will only be enough oil in Chechnya for 10 years.
New thread oil pipeline bypassing Chechnya
Old branch of the oil pipeline.
P.S. Any constructive additions and clarifications are welcome.