Siberian Surprise: Russian Oil Patch Just Keeps Pumping

Relatively high taxes on oil have actually sheltered the industry from much of the impact of the drop in prices. On crude exports, the government takes nearly everything above $30-$40 a barrel, so companies don't feel much impact until prices fall below that.

... Bashneft and other Russian companies working fields in the Volga River basin -- some of the first to be discovered in Russia early in the last century -- are benefiting from Soviet inefficiency, he said. "In Soviet times, the idea was: whatever we don't produce will be left for our children."

As a result, many old fields still have plenty of untouched oil. Bashneft, working with Schlumberger Ltd., set up a high-tech geology center in its headquarters near the fields, allowing engineers to model deposits in real time and drillers to target where the remaining oil is.

That's allowed Bashneft to increase production at new wells by as much as 20 times compared with past efforts, Stavskiy said. Custom-designed pumps -- made locally and thus not affected by sanctions -- help draw oil out of narrow holes, he added.