Russia’s oil industry is entering a decisive decade. As easily accessible reserves decline, the country is increasingly dependent on hard-to-recover oil reserves (HTR)—a category that already accounts for roughly two-thirds of oil in the ground. According to Pavel Sorokin, First Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, that share will rise to 80% or more of total production by 2030.
Speaking at Russian Energy Week 2024, Sorokin warned that this shift will fundamentally change the economics of oil production. Both capital and operating costs are expected to rise, while natural rent—the profit shared between investors and the state—could fall by half over the next ten years. The reason is straightforward: extracting oil from increasingly complex reservoirs requires more sophisticated and expensive technologies.
Recognizing this challenge, Russia’s Energy Strategy through 2050 places the development of advanced extraction technologies at the top of its priorities. One practical example of how this strategy is being implemented comes from NefteKhimSintez, a research and production company with residency at Skolkovo Technopark.
Making Hidden Oil Accessible
NefteKhimSintez has developed ChemField-Oil, a complex chemical product designed to improve oil recovery in difficult reservoirs. The technology enhances the effectiveness of water injection by improving contact between water and rock, removing thin hydrocarbon films from pore walls, and opening access to low-permeability zones where oil typically remains trapped.
In practical terms, ChemField-Oil allows operators to tap into stagnant sections of reservoirs that previously could not be produced. According to the source data, its application results in an average production increase of 10–17%, without the need for costly geological or technical interventions.
The solution is the product of long-term investment in fundamental research and high-tech oilfield chemistry, one of the most demanding areas of the oil and gas sector. While much of the market is dominated by mass-produced chemicals, NefteKhimSintez has chosen a different path—developing highly specialized formulations tailored to specific field conditions. Engineers analyze crude oil directly at production sites, factoring in parameters such as formation water salinity, corrosion activity, and well age.
Solving the Sulfur Problem
Another persistent challenge in oil production is the presence of hydrogen sulfide and mercaptans. These compounds are highly aggressive: they corrode equipment, increase accident risks, damage pipelines, and deactivate catalysts during refining, leading to poorer fuel quality. As a result, crude oil must be treated before entering pipeline systems—a process that is traditionally expensive, slow, and environmentally problematic.
To address this issue, the company developed the THIONOL line of reagents. The technology converts sulfur compounds directly into stable forms within the crude oil stream itself, eliminating the need for multi-stage treatment and preventing the formation of sulfur-alkaline waste.
These reagents are currently used at high-sulfur oil fields in the Volga region, Eastern and Western Siberia, and the Urals. Their effectiveness was demonstrated most clearly in the Irkutsk Region, where sulfur compound concentrations exceeded regulatory limits by hundreds of times. The oil could not be transported via the Eastern Siberia–Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline under previous conditions.
While foreign companies declined the project, NefteKhimSintez accepted the challenge. After conducting more than 50,000 laboratory experiments, the team developed a formulation that brought the oil into compliance, enabling its export through the ESPO system. This project became one of the first large-scale confirmations of the viability of Russian oilfield chemical technologies.
From Academic Roots to Industrial Scale
The company’s origins trace back to the 1990s, when the oilfield chemicals market was largely controlled by Western corporations such as Nalco, Baker Hughes, Clariant, Champion, and Schlumberger. At that time, graduates of the Faculty of Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vladimir Puzankov and Andrey Kulakov, formed a research team focused on creating domestic alternatives.
Traditional purification technologies relied on alkali washing and mercaptan extraction, producing toxic waste that required special disposal. The team’s breakthrough reagent simplified the process, binding sulfur compounds directly in the liquid phase. Three separate operations were replaced by one, reducing costs, speeding up treatment, and eliminating hazardous waste.
Support from the Skolkovo Foundation accelerated development. The company expanded its portfolio to cover heavy oil fractions, gas condensate, and light petroleum products—areas previously considered nearly unsolvable with a single technological approach.
Today, NefteKhimSintez operates a laboratory at Skolkovo, equipped for chromatographic and spectroscopic analysis, titration, rheometry, and other advanced testing methods. The company has received over 4.5 million rubles in Skolkovo grants for research, testing, certification, and prototype development.
According to Andrey Viktorov, Director of the Oil and Gas Division at the Industrial Technology Development Center of the Skolkovo Foundation (VEB.RF Group), the company became Skolkovo’s revenue leader last year, generating more than 4 billion rubles in revenue and paying over 1 billion rubles in taxes.
Science as a Business Model
For NefteKhimSintez, science is not a support function but a core of its operating model. “Every project is the result of scientific research and a deep understanding of reservoir and crude oil processes,” said co-founder Andrey Kulakov. He noted that advanced reagents not only improve field-level performance but also strengthen the industry’s overall sustainability and enable exports, particularly to Asia-Pacific markets.
Co-founder and CEO Vladimir Puzankov echoed this view, emphasizing that continuous investment in fundamental science has been central to the company’s success. The Skolkovo ecosystem, he added, provides the conditions needed for young scientists to turn research into competitive industrial technologies.
As Russia’s oil sector moves deeper into complex geology, solutions like these suggest that chemistry—rooted in fundamental science—may be one of the industry’s most powerful tools for adapting to a harder future.
