OREANDA-NEWS. January 31, 2014. Despite the positive dynamics of demand for hydrocarbons and the current tendencies of industry development, in 2014 the majority of companies in the Oil & Gas sector are not likely to see any changes to their core asset portfolio. T

his is one of the findings of the Eighth Annual Russian Oil & Gas Outlook Survey, which was conducted by Deloitte CIS professionals and included an opinion poll for executives and top specialists from state-owned and private companies in the sector. The survey helped recognise the interim results of the work of the entities in the sector, the results of their ongoing activities and the potential for industry development in the forthcoming year.

The survey showed that oil & gas companies are likely to make investments to develop hydrocarbon fields, increase the technological efficiency of refining and the sale of oil products, and general industrial modernisation, required due to the adoption of amendments to the Euro-4 technical regulations. Thus, both external borrowings and companies’ own funds are considered as sources of financing by Oil & Gas companies.

For most industry representatives, the main areas of operation over the next year will be the implementation of processes and planning and budgeting systems, logistics cost optimisation and headcount optimisation.

Elena Lazko, Partner and Deloitte CIS Oil & Gas Group Leader, commented: "Experts' great expectations of governmental control over the industry are fully explicable; encouraging geological exploration and MET differentiation for hard-to-recover reserves is aimed at minimising the risks related to the low level of geological data and the verification of a resource assessment of deposits, eliminating the administrative barriers companies encounter when obtaining rights for the use of a deposit site, and providing economic stimulus for subsoil developers to conduct geological exploration operations."

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