Russia's hydrocarbon production on the Arctic shelf may reach 50 million metric tons by 2035, reported Russian Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov at the Tyumen Oil and Gas Forum.

"We continue expanding production at fields in operation on the shelf. Our target is to bring hydrocarbon production by 2035 to about 50 million metric tons, up from about 28 million metric tons that are currently produced," TASS news agency cites Molodtsov as saying. According to the deputy energy minister, anti-Russian sanctions imposed in 2014 did not have a strong negative impact on shelf production, as had been expected.

"Some events that took place in 2014 and afterwards were expected to have a negative impact, but I must stress that none of the companies that are working on the shelf have changed their plans. This concerns both projects already launched and the ones which are being reviewed," added the deputy minister.

According to TASS, of the total number of production technologies used on the shelf (about 600), over 300 "have been developed in Russia, and over 200 have Russian analogues that are about to enter into the project design phase." Molodtsov added that some of the technologies will continue to be developed in Russia, for example, autonomous production systems.