Federal Agency for Subsoil Use (Rosnedra)

Structure

The structure of the central office of the agency:

• Case management.
• Office of Geological Foundations, Science and Informatics.
• Department of Geology of Oil and Gas, Groundwater and Structures.
• Solid Mineral Geology Directorate.
• Licensing Authority.
• Office of Financial and Economic Support.

Information Technology

2022: Rosnedra Digital Transformation

On January 24, 2023, the head of the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use Yevgeny Petrov, at a meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, spoke about the results of the department's work in 2022. In particular, it was about IT projects.

We have done a lot of work digitizing all stages of geological study and all stages of the life cycle of the field. We have formed a technological landscape together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and today we clearly understand the entire register of technologies: what technologies are used at what stage of the life cycle of the field and where bottlenecks are formed. At the same time, we focus not on equipment, but on technologies, on the whole technological chain in order to replace it, "Petrov said.

According to him, Rosnedra has created a "unified technological map of the industry," and is also developing a "new model for managing the industry based on data": from the stage of geological exploration to production and processing with the receipt of all data in machine-readable form.

Petrov also noted the transition to a registered model for licensing mining, for this 40 by-laws were adopted. The register record contains all legally relevant documents: geological materials, estimates of reserves and, most importantly, the field development model. In the future, the registry entry will contain a complete digital double of the field, Petrov said.

Rosnedra has significantly reduced all deadlines for the provision of public services, for example, the provision of the right to use subsoil is now seven days instead of 65. By the beginning of 2023, working with related coordinating departments so that the deadlines become even shorter.

Evgeny Petrov also said that Rosnedra, together with the Ministry of Digital Development, is doing a lot of work to deploy a departmental digital platform based on GosTech, "in order to literally move to data-based management." From a technical point of view, the project is ready for launch by the end of January 2023.^[1]

History

2023

Reduction in sales of subsoil licenses to a minimum of RUB 25.3 billion in 13 years

In 2023, revenues to the Russian budget from the sale of licenses for the right to use subsoil plots amounted to 25.3 billion rubles, which is 37% less than in 2022. The recorded result was the lowest since 2010. Such data are provided in the materials of the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use (Rosnedra), published in early April 2024.

According to the Vedomosti newspaper, referring to the statements of the deputy head of Rosnedra Dmitry Danilin, the main reasons for the fall in state revenues from the sale of licenses were sanctions pressure, the exhaustion of large profitable objects in the unallocated fund, the non-admission of foreigners to trading and the establishment of special requirements for participants. The observed situation leads to a restriction of competition at the auction, which can provoke a decrease in the cost of plots. In addition, revenues to the budget from the sale of licenses are negatively affected by an increase in the tax burden on subsoil users.

Unsplash

According to Danilin, since 2020, Rosnedra has exceeded the income plan, but in 2023 the situation has changed. Of the declared 300 auctions, the auction took place only for 197: thus, every third site put up for sale in 2023 could not be sold. In particular, out of 218 announced auctions for plots with solid minerals, only 149 took place, the amount of revenue for them amounted to approximately 12 billion rubles. In addition, in 2023, 77 auctions were announced for the right to use plots with reserves and resources of hydrocarbon raw materials, but only 47 of them took place. Income from them amounted to 6.1 billion rubles.

In 2024, Rosnedra expects to receive 29.5 billion rubles from the sale of subsoil licenses. At the same time, 250 auctions are planned.^[2]

Russia adopted a law on the digitalization of the sphere of occurrence of minerals

On December 5, 2023, the State Duma adopted amendments to the Law "On Subsoil" of February 21, 1992, which provide for the digitization of the occurrence of minerals. In accordance with document No. 222049-8, all natural resource reserves and distributed subsoil resources will be displayed on a special interactive map. Read more here.

2021

Evgeny Petrov - the new head of Rosnedra

On November 12, 2021, it was announced the appointment of Yevgeny Petrov as the new head of the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use (Rosnedra). The corresponding order of the government was signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Read more here.

Evgeny Petrov replaced Evgeny Kiselev at the head of the agency, becoming acting

In June 2021, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, by his order, dismissed the head of Rosnedr, Yevgeny Kiselev. Since April, the combined position of "Deputy Head of the Ministry of Natural Resources - Head of Rosnedr," which was held by Mr. Kiselev, was abolished. As a result, according to Kommersant's sources, the agency has since actually lacked leadership, while the government's order was issued only on June 25.

The former deputy head of the agency, Yevgeny Petrov, has now been appointed interim head of Rosnedr. Mr. Petrov was appointed deputy head of Rosnedra in 2020, and before that he served as an adviser to the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The reason for the dismissal of the head of the agency is not specified. Formally, the abolition of the position of the deputy head of the Ministry of Natural Resources is associated with the ongoing reform of the state apparatus, which provides for large-scale reductions in the central offices of federal departments. Back in January, the ministry wanted to increase the number of deputies from six to eight.

Heading Rosnedra, Mr. Kiselev worked under three ministers: Sergei Donskoy, Dmitry Kobylkin and Alexander Kozlov.

According to several sources of Kommersant, Yevgeny Kiselev and Alexander Kozlov had a strained relationship, it came to conflicts. The position of head of Rosnedra may be in demand by many figures and authorities looking for a representative of their interests. For example, Valery Pak's predecessor as head of Rosnedra, Alexander Popov, was considered a protege of the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin. The current head of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Mister Kozlov, who previously headed the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East, was supported by Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev, while Victoria Abramchenko is directly in charge of subsoil use.

At this time, the current head of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Alexander Kozlov, has six deputies left. In March, the department left the first deputy head of the Ministry of Natural Resources Denis Khramov, this position was taken by Konstantin Tsyganov, who was Mister Kozlov deputy when he headed the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East. Also, the former head of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation Dmitry Tetenkin became the deputy of Alexander Kozlov.

2015: Evgeny Kiselev headed Rosnedra after the departure of Valery Pak

Evgeny Kiselev headed Rosnedra after the departure of Valery Pak, who worked in this position for only two years. Mr. Kiselev in 2015, having moved from the post of deputy head of Rosnedr, was appointed acting head of the agency, and from next year he was approved in office on an ongoing basis.

Notes