GUS KHRUSTALNY, Vladimir Region, September 26. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade is planning to replace Western technologies in the fuel and energy sector within three years.

Western technologies in geological prospecting, engineering services and general machine-building are to be replaced in 2016.

The ministry named six groups of critical technologies in the fuel and energy sector to be replaced in the next there years, with drilling, production, processing, and software among them.

Some of the technologies, such as seismic systems and navigation equipment, are to be replaced in 2016, while others, including Arctic drilling, underwater and subglacial production, and hydraulic fracturing, in 2017.

The biggest challenge will be the production of domestic software for the fuel and energy sector. This task is expected to be solved in 2018.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Energy Ministry and the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment are working out a roadmap for reducing the national fuel and energy sector’s dependence on import within the next five years.

Russian oil and gas equipment manufacturers to set up national company

Russian manufacturers of oil and gas equipment will create a national engineering oil service company.

According to Russia's Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, the new company will be created at Uralvagonzavod by nine enterprises which signed the memorandum.

The creation of the new company is part of the government’s import-substitution and production localisation efforts in the field of oil and gas equipment and services.

Manturov said he was hopeful that several such companies would be created in Russia to provide the full range of oil services.