Hidden reserves. Asymmetric response
Falling oil prices of 2014 have become a serious challenge for the Russian economy. In this regard, it is important to take a fresh look at the inventory of the resources and the structure of the oil and gas industry as a whole. It is necessary to identify the key areas of hydrocarbon production and processing that require technological breakthroughs and internal reserve innovations which in the future will allow the country to defend national interests in the global energy market more confidently. Russia is the undisputed leader in natural gas reserves. In author’s opinion, it is the natural gas that should be considered the foundation for moving forward the energy sector, particularly the segment of liquid hydrocarbons. In light of this, a promising direction for the Russian fuel and energy complex may become the development and implementation of domestic technologies of synthetic petroleum production from hydrocarbon gases. In the future, this direction will allow for further diversifying the incomes of the state and significantly increasing the production of natural gas. Research in this area has been carried out by major foreign oil and gas companies for several decades. Currently, there are a number of experimental production units, but their efficiency is relatively low. Taking into account the world experience of the development of such technologies, the author contends the main prospects not with chemical but with radiation-chemical GTL-reforming, a key element of which will be a controlled radiolysis of alkenes. Russia, being one of the leaders in the field of peaceful nuclear energy, has the potential to become the main and perhaps the only producer of the equipment, that has no analogues in the world.