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Varshavskaya said that Russian companies should begin to pay special attention to geological surveys encompassing deep layers of deposits, especially in the Caspian, Urals and around the Caspian Sea; shale oil, notably in the south of Russia and West Siberia; and the Arctic including oil in deep structures in the West Siberia basin and onshore and offshore structures in Taymyr. Varshavkaaya emphasized that all of these efforts would require modern technologies.

The importance of modern technologies was repeated by nearly all speakers at the opening session of RPGC. Mikhail Stavskiy, First Vice-President, Upstream and Geology, Bashneft, said that new technologies had allowed his company to improve output in 2012, even from wells which had shown lower output previously. Stavskiy said that geological modelling was a key component of Bashneft's strategy and noted that Bashneft was patenting new technologies in oil production.

TNK-BP Vice-President, Western Siberia Division, Oleg Mikhailov stated very strongly that his company is keenly interested in technologies which suppliers can provide, if the suppliers can convincingly show that their solutions are the best for TNK-BP's specific needs. Mikhailov also said that the government should amend its approach to low permeability fields to increase the area of such fields which qualify for state support.

Approaching the need for new technologies from a different angle, Tatneft board member Renat Muslinov noted that Russia has exaggerated its reserves and consequently has to write off many of them. He said that in order for the country to truly improve is reserves balance sheet, it was crucial that the country apply new technologies to identify new deposits.

Dmitriy Kryanov of VNIINeft concurred with Muslinov and repeated that Russia's oil reserves are exaggerated.

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