MARK McCRORY

Since July 2006, Mark has held the position of Section Head in the commercial team, covering all energy issues (oil, gas, power & mining). The team consists of staff in Moscow, St Petersburg & Ekaterinburg and act as the first point of contact for UK firms in these sectors wanting to export to Russia. They provide advice to companies on trade and investment issues, including preparing market surveys, contact building, or offering advice on regulatory problems.

Mark's previous jobs in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have included negotiating Bulgaria & Romania's accession to the European Union and a secondment to the European Directorate of HM Treasury during the UK's 2005 Presidency of the EU. Prior to the FCO, Mark worked in Enterprise Oil plc (1995-2002), holding various roles in the trading, economics and treasury departments.

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES - RUSSIA

Russia is the world's second largest oil producing country, with up to 14% of world proved oil reserves and 36% of world gas reserves. The Government have estimated that $300 billion is needed in the period 2008- 20 to develop Russia's energy sector - including major deposits in inaccessible regions onshore and on the shelf, particularly in the Arctic zone. This task cannot be performed without the use of the world's best technologies, equipment and engineering.

The market for field services and construction engineering currently exceeds $33 with future growth forecast at between 10-15% pa. Even though over 80% of the oil and gas equipment currently in use is Russian-manufactured, in the context of Russia, even this is a very large market for British companies and one that is likely to grow. Only around 25% oil and gas equipment produced in Russia is at the same technological level as Western equivalents.

The UK is currently the biggest foreign investor in the Russian oil and gas industry and the Russian market is a priority one for UKTI. BP is currently the largest single investor in Russia, as one half of the TNK-BP joint venture. Shell operate the offshore Sakhalin 2 development - the world's largest integrated oil and gas project. UK expertise - especially in the offshore and subsea sectors - is proving to be a very attractive and valuable export.