Russia’s independence from imported oil and gas equipment has reached nearly 80%, Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov said at the TNF Industrial and Energy Forum in Tyumen on September 16.

“Over the past decade or so, our level of independence from imported oil and gas equipment has increased from around 43% domestic solutions to almost 80% by the end of last year,” TASS quotes the minister as saying. According to Alikhanov, the national project aims to increase the share of fully localized domestic solutions to 90% by 2030.

The key challenge is the remaining 20%. Alikhanov said that 220 types of critical oil and gas equipment remain priorities for localization. Of these, 55 are already in serial production, prototypes are being tested for another 56, and more than 80 R&D projects are currently under development.

The minister also highlighted international cooperation. According to him, more than 400 standards have already been developed with the participation of ANO INTI and oil and gas companies. Nine industry companies from CIS and Middle Eastern countries have joined the work as observers, while a number of the standards have already been recognized by international customers.

Alikhanov also proposed creating a “national oilfield services champion” to promote Russian equipment in export markets.

“It is unlikely that the international market can be conquered by such small individual teams,” he explained, noting that the Ministry of Industry and Trade is discussing ways to consolidate efforts with industry players and regional authorities.