The roadmap for creating oil and gas chemical clusters in Russia's Arctic zone and the Far East by 2025 was approved by government decree on 16 May 2023. The document sets out a timetable for the development of support measures capable of restarting the Russian oil and gas chemical industry. Alexander Stotsky, General Director of the Project Office for Arctic Development, talks about this.

The programme, which will enable the identification of future directions for the development of oil and gas chemistry, is to be approved by July 2024. And by December 2023, the ministries will have to develop mechanisms to stimulate the development of the Arctic and Far Eastern oil and gas chemical clusters, including through the creation of natural gas processing facilities.

Among the accompanying key tasks outlined in the document are the development of transport and logistics infrastructure and the training of qualified personnel for the industry. Another item in the government plan calls for the approval of a comprehensive programme to develop the resource potential of the Yamal Peninsula.

The revival of the oil and gas chemical industry is a task of national importance. Consistent work is needed to reduce dependence on foreign products and supply chains, as well as to create and develop our own substitute capacities. In this regard, the role of the Arctic can hardly be overestimated: it is beyond the Arctic Circle that the most promising hydrocarbon deposits, the raw material for the industry, are concentrated.