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LUKOIL, government draft legal initiatives to stimulate shale oil production

Corresponding law to be adopted in the second and third reading by the end of this year

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

ST. PETERSBURG, June 20 (Itar-Tass) - Preparations for stepping up work to produce shale oil will require legislative initiative, the president of Russia’s oil major LUKOIL, Vagit Alekperov, told the Russia Today television news channel on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg economic forum on Thursday.

“In order to get ready for stepping up this work there will have to be a proper legal basis. In cooperation with the government we have drafted a number of documents that would encourage investments into complex oil deposits. I believe that these documents will be considered by the State Duma during the spring session and the law will be adopted in the second and third reading by the end of this year,” Alekperov said about his company’s plans for shale oil production.

He added that likely shale oil production volumes were hard to estimate at this point.

“What volume of production one may expect? Colossal. The deposits total billions of tonnes. Therefore it is hard to say what amounts may be extracted,” he said.

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