"Don't sway, but drill." Lukashenko sets ambitious tasks for oil workers

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko is setting ambitious targets for domestic oil workers, demanding an increase in exploration and development of new fields. The Head of State announced this at a meeting on hydrocarbon raw materials extraction, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.

The Head of State emphasized the importance of developing the domestic mineral and raw material base, its efficient use, and the intensive development of domestic fields. "We discussed the issue very seriously. It's not just oil and gas. It's also our other mineral reserves. The task was set to find, to provide a serious answer to the existing questions," noted Alexander Lukashenko.

"This year, we plan to reach (extraction. - BELTA note) 2 million tons of oil. Not bad, but what about the future? How will we ensure the intensity of geological exploration and the development of new fields going forward?" - the Head of State posed the questions.
He noted that the government has prepared a schedule for geological exploration work. "However, the deadlines for their completion, as usual, are delayed. Until 2030," the President remarked.

The Head of State also has questions for the Scientific and Production Center for Geology: "Nearly Br35 million has been invested in the renewal of the material and technical base in recent years. Yet, the actual pace of work on exploring new fields is low."

For instance, from 2021 to May 2025, four exploratory wells have been drilled, with only one drilled this year so far. In 2024, an increase in oil reserves of 91 thousand tons was ensured (a 2-fold increase compared to the 2023 level). However, the plan for 2025 is set at a lower volume – only 70 thousand tons, or 77% of the 2024 level.

"This means that in our plans and concrete actions, we have already started to decline again. Why is such a drop occurring?" - Alexander Lukashenko asks.

"I know for sure that we have reserves here, as in any area of our activity. Therefore, we must not hesitate, but drill and drill. But drill wisely and with the implementation of new technologies! Any drilling, any geological exploration must be justified," stressed the Belarusian leader.
In this regard, he raised the issue with scientists and the Scientific and Production Center for Geology under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, asking why a number of wells transferred to the oil-producing company turned out to be unclaimed. "In which, as you believe, there should be oil. Belorusneft has either refused them or concluded that there is no oil there," Alexander Lukashenko noted.

The President demands that the National Academy of Sciences, the SPC for Geology, and the Belorusneft company work in coordination: "We do not have that much oil, the country is compact, so there is nothing to share here."

"There are no unimportant sectors in Belarus, and there cannot be any. Domestic oil production is not only one of the significant links in the country's energy security but also a raw material for export products with high added value," Alexander Lukashenko emphasized.

He asked the participants of the meeting to report on how the oil-producing industry will develop in the country; whether there is scientific and economic justification for the chosen strategy; what about other oil-bearing regions besides the Pripyat Trough; whether exploration and oil production are sufficiently provided with technological equipment and, especially, personnel; how existing problems are being solved and why corrupt practices have not been eliminated.

Alexander Lukashenko cited data that as of today, 5 large and medium-sized oil fields and 91 small and very small fields, as characterized by industry specialists, have been discovered in Belarus. The majority of them are a Soviet legacy.

"The global practice is as follows: to ensure the maximum efficiency of geological exploration work (which is a very expensive undertaking), extraction begins with large reserves first, moving on to smaller ones," the head of state noted.
He recalled that Belarusian fields were intensively exploited during the USSR. At that time, the production volume reached a peak of about 8 million tons per year. With the acquisition of sovereignty, this work continued. However, due to the depletion of large and medium-sized fields, there was a decrease in production volumes down to 1.6 million tons in 2016. "I saw this decline, and then, by a decisive measure, the head of our company was tasked with reaching at least 2 million tons," the President said.