MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/. Development of deep horizons in Western Siberia will require investments comparable with costs of Arctic drilling, Deputy Energy Minister of Russia Pavel Sorokin wrote in his article for the Energy Policy magazine.

"Development of deep horizons will require an increase in investments. For example, capital investments for exploration drilling in the pre-Jurassic complex of Western Siberia are comparable with the Arctic, 500 mln rubles ($6.6 mln) and more per well. The Arctic and the offshore area constitute the most promising region from the standpoint of major discoveries. Several huge discoveries have already been made there in recent years - Neptune, Triton and Paiyakha with total reserves over 1.3 mln tonnes of oil. However, the exploration maturity of these basins is low and absolutely new modeling technologies for efficient localization of hydrocarbon pools should be used there, considering the high cost of exploration drilling," Sorokin said.

"Therefore, the issue of the future of the Russian oil producing sector is associated with advance technology development and efficiency improvement," the official added.