OIL AND GAS SECTOR COMPANIES ARE IN THE FACE OF THE CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: REGIONAL FEATURES AND MAJOR TRENDS
Introduction. Today, it is of topical importance for oil and gas sector to solve a long-term goals in transition to a more efficient functioning model, corresponding to the principles of sustainable development and international trends, and able to properly face up to the challenges and threats. The significance of this problem is understood at all levels of management (state, regional, enterprise). The goal of the study is to analyze the current state, possibilities, restrictions, and perspectives of oil and gas sector development with an account of the global trends and regional features, patterns of sustainable development. The authors analyze the growth rate of oil production volume in the leading companies of the Saratov oblast, index of production by the type of activity “Extraction of commercial minerals”, and profitability index of oil and gas entities. There is a reasonable amount of resources petroleum commodities, availability of oil and gas and industrial infrastructure, high research and production capacity in the Saratov oblast. The authors emphasize that there is a need in investment to maintain good condition of deposits and consider the examples of projects implemented in their region. Results. The problems of oil and gas sector development in the Saratov oblast were revealed. These problems are also typical for other Russian regions. They are progressive depletion of deposits, increase of the share of hard-to-recover reserves, decommissioning, progressive obsolescence of petroleum technology, heavy wear of plant and equipment, investment potential reduction, need in the development of the corresponding infrastructure, decline in investment into the geological prospecting work, need in attention to the sustainable development parameters, etc. Internal and external constraints for oil and gas sector development in the Saratov oblast were found. Conclusion. The authors consider that the major lines for oil and gas sector development in the region shall be enhancement of efficiency (taking into account the projects of business-lines digitization), development of technological base, promotion of companies sustainable development with an account of challenges and risks of international, domestic, and regional levels.