Don't hold your breath for Russian shale

The Bazhenov deposit holds a lot of oil, but a repeat of the American shale bonanza is by no means imminent

Russia's renewed efforts to stimulate a shale energy revolution have been dismissed by some as a "science project", despite the involvement of Gazprom, the state-controlled behemoth. Gazprom Neft, the company's oil division, unveiled an ambitious drilling programme in late June, after announcing it is ready to move into the next phase of development of unconventional oil reserves in the Bazhenov play in Western Siberia, which is located below conventional sand-stone reservoirs. The company's target is to produce 73m barrels a year (200,000 barrels a day) of light oil from Bazhenov by the end of 2025. But some analysts are less than impressed. They say Gazprom Neft's efforts have been limited