Ural’s oil fields ‘failure’

Press, 14 April 1984, Page 28

Ural’s oil fields ‘failure’

NZPA-AP Moscow Mismanagement and bad planning at the west Siberian oil fields of Tyumen have wasted millions of roubles and cut into production in a vital region that accounts for nearly 60 per cent of annual Soviet output, says the newspaper “Pravda.” Calling the situation at the fields east of the Ural Mountains “a serious failure,” “Pravda” criticised virtually every aspect of the Tyumen production system. The Communist Party newspaper laid most of the blame on the Oil Ministry and the local production association. “Pravda” said the Ministry had set production targets that were some 35 to 40 million tons of oil a year higher than it had budgeted for in the five-year plan. In addition, it had constantly trimmed quotas to avoid falling short. The local production association had failed to keep pace with production plans, had not provided workers with needed services and had wasted equipment and manpower, the newspaper said. Tyumen is an oil-rich region that has become the centre of the Soviet oil industry, which some estimates say accounts for 60 per cent of the nation’s foreign income.

As fields in other parts of Siberia and in Central Asia dry up, the Soviet Union looks to Tyumen not only to take up the slack, but also to meet the increasing demands of domestic consumption and export contracts.

Last year, the Soviet Union produced 616 million tons of oil. That was up from 613 million tons in 1983, but still short of the planned target of 619 million tons. It was the third successive year that production had fallen short in the world’s largest oil-producing nation.

“Pravda” said the Tyumen fields were now producing about 360 r.nllion tons of oil a year — 17 million tons more than in 1982 but still far short of the planned 375 to 380 million tons.

In 1980, when the Soviet Union was formalising its present five-year plan, the Oil Ministry budgeted for 340 million tons a year of Tyumen, said “Pravda.” “According to this figure, projects were planned and equipment was ordered,” the newspaper said. But when it came time to submit final figures, the Tyumen target was set at 375 to 380 million tons a year. one problem was that Tyumen production officials did not shift fast enough from drilling wells to extracting oil. As a result “millions of roubles worth of (extraction) equipment” was left abandoned and ruined during prolonged drilling, “Pravda” said.

Local officials did not provide enough housing, food services, or other amenities for workers, “Pravda” said. A reporter, V. Lisin, said he visited one area where there were brigades of 15 to 20 women working in the fields with no dining or living facilities, and only one toilet.