Government commission meeting on North Caucasus to focus on fuel and energy sector

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will on Friday hold a meeting of the government commission on the North Caucasus Federal District, due to focus on the region’s fuel and energy sector, the government press service reported.
“Oil is produced in all constituent members of the North Caucasus Federal District except for the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic and the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania,” according to materials prepared for the meeting.
“A total of 85% of regional oil production is ensured by the Stavropol Territory (54.3%) and the Chechen Republic (30.7%),” the materials said. Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft accounts for nearly the entire volume of oil stock production in the district — 95.9% of the overall amount.
Natural gas production over the first 10 months of 2014 in the district totaled 622 million cubic meters. The largest gas producing regions are the Stavropol Territory (40%), Dagestan (40%) and Chechnya. Gas in the region is produced by Rosneft, which accounts for some 70% of the overall production, and Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom.
The maximum level of gas infrastructure development has been registered in Chechnya and the Stavropol Territory (97%), whereas in other regions the situation is worse: the level totals 76% in Karachay-Cherkessia and slightly over 80% in Ingushetia.
Regarding electricity, the North Caucasus fully provides for its own needs, passing excesses to the neighboring Kuban and Kalmyk energy systems. Specialists also note the district’s considerable potential regarding the use of renewable energy sources, in particular, the hydropower industry.
Russian hydroelectricity company RusHydro’s investment program envisions the construction of new and development of existing hydropower plants.
“On the other hand, the district still has large-scale losses in its networks, a low reliability of power supply, a deficit of electric power in separate areas,” the materials for the meeting stated.