The Elabuga district is hosting the Annual meeting of the RT oil industry

On July 16, 2008, the President of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev, visited the Elabuga municipal district. The main objective of the trip was for the head of the republic to take part in a meeting on “The results obtained by oil companies of the Republic of Tatarstan in the first half of 2008 and the further development of the republic’s oil industry.”

When focusing on the problems of the oil industry, RT President praised the measures taken by the federal center on stimulating the augmentation of crude hydrocarbon reserves and the increase in oil production. The President stated “What we have begun telling 8 years ago, everybody was only able to understand now. It is impossible to fix such a capital-intensive industry in a short period of time.” Meanwhile, Tatarstan, with the falling levels of oil extraction throughout the country, is increasing its extraction of the black gold, increasing its reserves at such a pace that it will soon surpass others. The President also noted that, today, great attention is paid at the federal level to the support for smaller sized oil companies. This speaks well of the earlier decisions made by the republic, highlighted Mr. Shaimiev.

According to the President, in light of the recent comments made by Vladimir Putin with regards to the high oil prices, Tatarstan is offering to build oil-refining factories specially made for the smaller-sized oil companies, which will enable to halt growth of market prices.

During the last “oil summit”, the head of the republic announced that it is imperative to create within the RT Council on Safety, a Scientific and Technical Council on Resource Extraction. State Advisor to the President of the Republic of Tatarstan on issues of mineral wealth use, oil, gas and ecology, Irina Larochkina, spoke of the ways in which this will be achieved. According to her presentation, this council, which has already begun its work December of last year, has already looked into the many questions regarding the industry during its meeting.

Drawing on conclusions from the meeting, Mintimer Shaimiev announced that the RT oil industry has all that is necessary to be competitive in the market – expertise from previous generations, a qualified staff, and advanced sciences. According to the President, it is only necessary to add new technology and a fresh outlook.

On July 15, the President of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev, wrote a letter to the RF Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, and announced Tatarstan’s plans to build a third oil-refining plant, but this time specially designed for small-sized oil companies, announced the head of the republic at the meeting in Elabuga.

If the federal government will not consider this project needing federal investment than Tatarstan will go ahead and build the plant on its own account, stated the President.

On the question of whether these plans would mean that Tatarstan will no longer export crude oil to the world markets, the President answered “We will trade petro-products and retain great portion of the profit in the republic.”